Problems in Paradise
by laura-maeve
Summary: Sequel to Troubles with Fairy Tales. Now that Nessie and Jake are furthering their relationship, the stakes are higher than ever as Caden joins the pack and a new baby joins the family. Nessie is obsessed with the wedding and new goddaughter while Jacob is trying desperately to make up for and not repeat his mistakes months ago. But as danger returns, can love be their savior?
1. Chapter 1

**Soooo, HI GUYS! I'm back with round #2. When I said that the first chapter was always the hardest for me, I was not lying. I wrote and rewrote this chapter so many times even before I finished Troubles with Fairy Tales(TFT as I like to abbreviate it). And you guys have no idea how much I've missed you. I hope all of you had some happy holidays and anything else you celebrate, or just had a happy break from school or work. I really don't know what else to say besides, let's get this party started!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except Shelby, Caden, Leila, and any other new characters.**

**Please Enjoy!**

**JPOV**

Seven long months had passed since all the drama, and life had gone on as normal. Only with a new addition to the pack. Caden had asked to be put in to the patrol shifts. I allowed it, but I made sure to keep him and Leah as far apart as possible. It wouldn't do anyone any good for those two to have a romp in the woods. I cringed just thinking about it. Not a mental image I needed.

I'd just gotten off of my own early morning shift. It was noon and the house wasn't quiet at all as I loped up the porch steps. The kitchen was bustling as Esme and Bella ran around making lunch for me and Nessie like they'd gotten into doing every day. Jasper and Rosalie were at it again with the chess. Alice was sprawled on the floor, her wedding planning stuff fanned out around her on the floor and taking up the couch. She was examining two squares of cloth that looked the same color to me. I could hear the piano's sounds flow through the house and I knew Edward was playing.

Quickly, I stopped by the room to give him a wave and nod to let him know that we found nothing on the patrol. He nodded with a small smile. For a moment he closed his eyes, lost in his own tune. And then they opened and he smiled at the ceiling.

Nessie.

I raced over and up the stairs to the room that I shared with her, Edward's old room. As soon as I opened the door, two more color squares were thrust into my face.

"Which one?"

Laughing, I tried to move her hands, but she stayed firm. "Nessie-,"

"_Which one?"_

I sighed and backed up a little so I could see the colors. Both were a shade of purple. "Um, the darker one."

"Good. Eggplant. I can work with that."

_Then why'd she ask?_ I thought.

The squares vanished as she moved away from me to show me the room beyond. My jaw hit the floor.

"What the hell happened in here?"

She was digging in a bag filled with tissue. The tissue went flying around her before she paused to look up at me.

"I made such a big fuss about planning our wedding and so far it's only been Aunt Alice planning anything." She shrugged. "So I've decided to start."

Various clothes, shoes, books, papers, and pictures were scattered over the previously pristine room.

"Nessie, baby, we don't have to be married by this time next year." When she glared at me viciously, I backed up and put my hands up in surrender. "Ok, I was wrong."

She sighed and dropped the paper she was holding. "I just want it to be perfect. And be your wife."

I went to her and wrapped my arms around her. Her arms wound around my waist as she snuggled her face into my chest. Holding her to me, I felt the tension drain out of her as she sighed contentedly.

"Sweetie, as long as you don't leave me standing up there, it'll be perfect just watching you walk down the aisle and then say 'I do'. And I want you to be my wife more than anything, other than me wanting to be your husband."

Man, those two words tore at me. Husband and wife. The ultimate label for a couple. I wanted that ring on my finger showing the world that I belonged to only one person. And that was my wife, who also wore a ring to show the world that she only belonged to one person: me.

"Jacob," she said, bringing my attention back to her. She reached a hand up to stroke my face. "I'd never leave you up there. If anything, I'm going to be running right into your arms."

I grinned. "In heels?"

"Don't underestimate a woman in love who's dying to marry the man she loves."

We grinned at each other before I tugged up on her waist, letting her know I wanted a kiss. She got the hint and went up on the tips of her toes. Leaning down, I pressed a soft kiss to her lips as she dug her fingers into my hair. Knowing what it would do to me, she scraped her nails over my scalp, making me make a purr-like sound in my chest.

She pulled back with a giggle. "I love it when you make that sound."

"I know," I whispered. Feeling the need for retaliation, I bent further so that I could reach her neck. As soon as she felt my teeth nibble at her skin, she leaned her head back with a groan.

"So not fair," she gasped out.

I chuckled against her skin. "But oh so fun."

"You are in so much trouble," she giggled, pushing me away.

"Why?"

"Jacob Black, get off my babysitter!" a voice yelled behind me.

I turned around to find Emily standing in the doorway trying to hide a grin. In one hand was the baby carrier holding a sleeping Leila and the other held a diaper bag.

"Hey, Em," I said, going for the diaper bag. Nessie went for the baby.

"Hey, Jake." Emily came in and sat down on one of the few clear spaces on the bed.

She looked exhausted. Leila had been born a couple days shy of two months ago. Nessie and I had agreed to take care of her so that Emily and Sam could have a weekend to themselves and to get some sleep. Since I'd agreed to be Leila's godfather, Nessie had agreed to become godmother, so we took care of her a lot when Emily needed to go on errands and Sam was at work.

Nessie had taken Leila out of the carrier and was rocking her, smiling as the baby gripped her finger even in sleep.

"She's gotten so big," I said. The image of Nessie with a baby was one of the most beautiful things I'd ever seen. It was different in real life than in her dreams. It was real even though Leila wasn't ours. Nessie was so good with her, always a smile even when the tiny baby became cranky and started wailing. Nessie was quick and sure in her calming methods. She'd been scared out of her mind to hold Leila for the first time, but once they were acquainted? That baby loved her and always calmed when she was in Nessie's protective arms.

Emily nodded, smiling at the sight of the two girls. "Oh yeah, but let me give you fair warning. If she falls asleep on you, Jake, she has to stay there or she'll scream when you try to put her in the crib."

"When did that start?" Nessie asked.

"About a week ago. She fell asleep on top of Sam after he'd passed out on the couch. We tried to put her in the crib." She shook her head. "Wouldn't stop screaming until Sam picked her up again. My guess is it's the warmth."

"Probably. I know that I don't like going to sleep curled up next to Jake and waking up cold when he has to leave."

I met her gaze and felt my heart warm as she smiled at me. She shrugged. "It's true."

Emily grinned at the two of us. "So it's really happening for the two of you, huh?"

A blush rose up Nessie's neck to spread across her cheeks.

I chuckled. "We're working on the wedding. Alice and Nessie are convinced that it has to be perfect."

"Of course it does. The whole preparation is for the guests. But the bride's prep? That's for the groom."

I made a sound. "Don't agree with her, Em. I don't need a stressed out fiancée. Those are dangerous, or so I've heard."

"Oh, they are." She chuckled at the look I gave her. Then her attention went back to her daughter. "So, you're taking her up to the cabin?"

Nessie and I shared a look. I shrugged. "We thought that maybe we could spend some alone time with her."

"That's a great idea. She needs to get know the two of you-just in case."

Nessie handed me the baby and sat down next to Emily. "Emily, that's a long time coming. You'll have a long time with her."

"Not long enough," she whispered.

Nessie hugged her and I looked down at the tiny girl in my arms. She'd woken up sometime when we were talking. Her dark brown eyes watched me sleepily as I rocked her gently. It had surprised me at how good with her I was. I'd never really been around a baby that wasn't an imprint. Nessie and Claire had both been special cases. I'd expected Leila to cry and scream for her mom, dad, or anybody other than me. But she'd taken to me quickly. There were even times when we fell asleep on the couch together. And times that she wouldn't calm down until I was holding her. It was almost as if she were already smart enough to know who we all were individually and knew who she wanted to be with at any given time.

"The two of you are going to make great parents one day," Emily said, breaking the spell between me and Leila.

Nessie and I both blushed. We had to get to the point where we could _make_ the baby first. But holding and seeing Leila had made me want to have kids even more than my embarrassment was holding me back from progressing with Nessie. I wanted her to carry my child. I wanted her to be the mother of my children so badly. And I was becoming more and more comfortable with the steaminess in the bedroom at a faster pace. Nessie really didn't have to tell me anymore that she was ok with what we were doing. The sounds she made and where she moved me told me that she was ok. We were becoming as familiar with each other's bodies as we were with our own.

"You think so?" Nessie asked.

"Are you kidding? You are so good with Leila. She may be a baby but she loves the two of you. Even though you aren't her mother, your nurturing instincts kicked in. As did Jacob's even though he isn't her father."

Mother and father. Two more labels for a couple.

Emily clapped her hands on her legs and stood up. "Well, I guess I better get back down there to Sam. He's cooking for me tonight."

Nessie hugged her again. "Look, Em, if you need longer than the weekend-," she looked at me as if for permission. I nodded and she smiled. "We wouldn't mind keeping her longer. We really don't have much to do. Jake works down at the shop and runs a patrol every day and I'm just planning the wedding."

Emily grinned at us both, but it faded when her eyes came to her baby. "That's really sweet of you, Ness. But this will be the first time I'm away from her for more than a few hours. I have a feeling it's going to be hard."

"Well, then, for future reference. We'll come back down from the cabin Sunday afternoon. That'll give you time to get up and around," I told her as I rocked the baby. She was starting to wake up and squirm in my arms. I sensed playtime was near.

"Thanks so much for this, guys." Emily hugged and kissed Nessie, and then came to me. Stretching up, she kissed my cheek, then leaned down to place a kiss to Leila's forehead. "You be good for your godparents."

I chuckled, which made Leila smile. Her ear was pressed to my chest so she'd heard the sound. "She's always good for us."

"Then she must hate Paul."

"Everyone hates Paul," I said grinning down at Leila.

Emily smacked my arm and Nessie glared at me.

"Your sister doesn't," Emily said.

"Yeah, well, I always knew she was off her rocker."

The girls shared a head shake and grin.

"You're so bad, Jacob."

I grinned a Jacob-y grin at her. "Of course I am. I'm the only boy in my family."

Emily laughed. "I'm sure your mother would be proud."

Shifting the baby to one arm, I reached for Nessie's left hand so I could feel the ring on her finger.

"I really hope she would be proud of me."

Emily's smile and eyes softened. "She would be, Jake. And she'd love the man that you've become."

Nessie nodded. "Oh yeah. I know I am. So are Billy and Rachel."

"Everybody's proud of you, Jacob." Emily patted my arm. "Well, I'm going to leave you guys to get settled." One last look at her daughter and she was gone.

"You ok, Jake?" Nessie asked as she watched me and Leila.

I nodded. "Just thinking about having kids. Ours will never get to know their grandmother."

"I know, Jake. But you can tell them everything you remember about her. And if Billy's still around, I'm sure he has stories."

That made me laugh. "Oh, definitely. We'll have to tell him when to stop."

She came over to us, smiling down at Leila and playing with her little fingers. "You really want children, don't you?"

"Of course I do." When her eyes met mine, I stroked her face with one hand. "Nessie, I-," I had to swallow hard to tell her what I'd just been thinking. But I was all about being honest with her, to tell her what I wanted. Placing my hand over her flat stomach, I said, "I want to watch your belly grow with our child. I want to hold our son or daughter like this after he or she is born. I want them to grow up to run into our room on Christmas day and jump on the bed until we get up."

That made her laugh as tears spilled down her cheeks. She placed her hands over mine where it rested over her stomach. "Me too."

Moving my hands, I gripped her left hand again and lifted it up to my lips so I could kiss the ring that was now hers.

"Come on, you big puppy. Let's get up to the cabin."

"You're not bringing the wedding planning stuff, are you?" I asked tentatively.

She smiled up at me. "No. I'll leave it here."

I squeezed her hand as she wiped the tears from her face. "Good. I want my woman back for a couple days."

"I think I can manage that just for you."

Leila cooed in my arms, staring up at us with a giant grin.

"I love you, Nessie."

"I love you, too, Jacob."

**RPOV**

Thirty minutes later, Adam and Derek were stationed in front and back of us as we trudged through the woods to the cabin. Jacob had insisted on guards and I wasn't about to argue, not with Leila in my arms. The strap of her diaper bag was slung over my shoulder. Jacob had the carrier and our bags for the weekend. Aunt Alice and Aunt Rosalie had baby-proofed every house that she might go to, including the cabin. So Leila now had her own room and crib up there. Emily had protested about them spending money but they'd given her a look that shut her up quickly.

"Did you want us to stick around, Jake?" Derek asked as he scanned the woods.

Jacob shook his head. "No. Just make sure that whoever has patrols checks in with me."

"Sure thing."

Leila's little fingers played with the ring on my left hand as we walked. She was sitting on my arm and looking over my shoulder to laugh and giggle at Adam who was walking behind us. Looking back, I saw him laugh and shake his head.

"She's cute," he said.

Derek looked back at us from his position ahead. I knew he wasn't looking at me. He was looking past me to his mate. They shared a tender look that I pretended I didn't see. Instead, I glanced at Jacob who was trying to hide a grin.

Before long, the cabin came into sight. Even though Jake waved the boys away, they didn't leave until we were locked safely inside. Derek felt guilty as hell that he'd left me unguarded back in November. And Adam felt terrible for allowing Derek to stay with him. Both Jacob and I had told them to shut up and that they weren't at fault for what had happened. They didn't believe us. So now, they took our safety to a whole new level. Whenever we left the house, one or both were with us at all times. If we went out in public, they always took a female with them. Either Christa or Morgan would come with so that they could follow me into the bathroom if I had to go.

As soon as we were through the door and Jacob had put the bags and carrier down, Leila reached for him. He grinned. The fact that she wanted him made him ecstatic.

He reached for her. "Alright, munchkin. I had a feeling this was coming. Let's get this party started, shall we?" He lifted her above his head, lifted her shirt with his thumbs, and pressed his lips to her tummy. He blew a raspberry there, making her giggle.

Laughing, I shook my head and walked toward the kitchen. "I'm going to work on dinner. You two run amok."

I heard him gasp. "Did you hear that? She gave us permission."

There was another raspberry and another giggle. Rolling my eyes and sleeves up, I picked out the ingredients I needed.

I wanted what Jacob wanted, that was for sure. But we weren't ready for a child yet. We were still growing out of our own child tendencies. For now, Leila would be our goddaughter. We could handle her. But eventually, I wanted what my dreams had all been about. I wanted my belly round with Jacob's child.

However, there was one question that I'd thought of the day after Leila was born and it had haunted me ever since. Could I carry a child, let alone create one? I'd gone to Carlisle privately. He seemed to think so since I had my period once a month. But I'd countered back that there were women who had their periods and couldn't conceive. My body didn't like change just like a full-blooded vampire. Maybe I could conceive, but could I carry?

Carlisle seemed to think that since a baby's growth is slow that my body would adjust to it. I hoped and prayed that he was right. Disappointing Jacob now that I knew he really wanted kids would break both of our hearts. And I wouldn't be able to stand that.

I prepared dinner for me and Jake and a bottle for Leila, testing the warmth of the formula against my wrist. Now I was just waiting for the bread in the oven to be finished. Everything else was sitting on the table. A moment later, Jacob came in making an airplane noise as he held Leila horizontally, like he was flying her around. She was crying and laughing at the same time as if she liked what was happening but didn't like who it was happening with. Jacob zoomed her over to me.

"Are you finished? I can hold on to her until you're done but she really wants you."

I washed and dried my hands, and then reached for her. Sitting her on my arm, she wrapped a small hand around my neck. Her fingers twisted into the curls there, playing with them.

I nuzzled her cheek, making her look at me. "Is Uncle Jacob annoying you?" I said in a grumpy baby voice. "Yeah, he does that to me, too."

"Hey! I heard that."

I turned to find him sitting at the table dishing food onto our plates. His eyes were playfully narrowed at me. The buzzer on the timer rang out and I grabbed a pot holder to get the pan of bread out of the oven. Swinging Leila to my hip, I tossed the bread onto the stove. Jacob came over to cut it into slices and placed the plate on the rather large round dining room table.

He sat at the head of the table and I sat on his right, moving the baby to a laying down position. She'd started getting fussy while Jake was messing with the bread. She was probably hungry, too. And sleepy from playing with Jake.

Jacob waved his hands in my direction. "Here, I'll feed her. You eat first since you cooked."

Shaking my head I placed a blanket on her chest and positioned the bottle to her mouth, propping it against the blanket. "I can do both, Jake. It's fine."

"Huh, never thought of that."

"Of course you didn't. It's ok, though. Now you know."

As Leila sucked on her bottle, Jacob and I dug in to our lasagna. Jacob made an appreciative sound in his chest. I wasn't sure if it was from the food or from me rubbing my foot over his foot and leg. Probably both. It wasn't a sexual or suggestive action. More of a calming one. I liked to touch him and he liked to touch me. Wolves were pack animals. Touch was calming to them.

In record time, Leila finished her bottle and was nearly sound asleep. But she needed to be changed before we tucked her into bed. Hefting her up, I stretched toward Jacob.

"Would like the honor of changing her?" I asked with a barely contained grin.

He playfully glared at me. "I knew you did that on purpose."

We had a deal that whoever fed her, the other had to change her. I let loose my grin as he took her from me. I wrapped the strap of her diaper bag over his shoulder even though we didn't need it. We had more than enough supplies here. As he went upstairs to change her, I cleared the table and put up the leftovers. Whoever stayed here next would like them, or Jake would eat them tomorrow. Probably the latter. When I was finished in the kitchen, I started a fire in the living room fireplace and then went for the downstairs master bedroom. We'd talked about sleeping in an upstairs bedroom to be closer to her just in case, but then we'd come up with the conclusion that we both had supernatural speed to get up there.

Rubbing my hands together, I stood up to find Jacob in the doorway, watching me with his arms crossed over his muscular chest.

"Where's Leila?"

"After I changed her and put her in bed clothes, I rocked a little and she was out like a light."

"Did you turn the monitor on?"

He nodded and came to me, wrapping his arms around my waist. "Don't worry, I got it covered. She's fine. I'd hear her with or without the monitor anyway."

I stroked my hands across his chest. His heartbeat was strong under my palm as if it were beating hard just so that it could meet my hand.

"I know. It just makes me feel better to have it on, just in case."

Letting me go, he went over the bedside table and clicked on the monitor. It was one of those that had the screen so we could see her. She was sound asleep. He'd turned on the projector light and some music. Leila wasn't a normal baby. She hated the "baby music", so Jacob had tried introducing her to older rock music. Much to Emily's relief, her baby had fallen instantly asleep. Jacob and I had gone to buy good radios for each of her rooms and the baby monitors with the screens.

"There, feel better?" he asked, sitting on the bed.

Walking over to him, I used my legs to nudge his knees apart so that I could stand in the space. He obliged, placing his hands on my hips. Gently, I kissed him.

"Yes, thank you."

He kissed me. "Anything for you."

Good grief, did I love him. Especially when he looked at me like that. His usually dark eyes became even darker as I leaned into his body. Pushing on his shoulders, he got the hint and laid back. I crawled up onto the bed moving my knees to the outside of his hips on the bed so that I was on all fours above him. His eyes darted down and he growled. My shirt was a low cut V-neck, and my bra was a push-up offering my breasts up to his eyes.

His hands tightened on my hips as I leaned back on my knees to shed the shirt. When it dropped to the floor, I went for his. He lifted up off the bed enough so that I could wrestle it up over his head. As soon as he was free of the fabric, his lips went straight for my chest, but I pushed him back down onto the bed.

"No. You always get to me first. It's my turn."

His eyes darkened even more. And the growl came when I flipped my hair over my left shoulder and bent to his neck. His huge hands came up to grip my hips, long fingers splaying across my ass. My lips met his skin with heat boiling between us. His back arched off the bed, chest hitting mine. The reaction was intense for the small touch I'd given, and I loved it.

Giving me the illusion of a little bit of strength over him, I traced my hands down his arms to his wrists and maneuvered his hands over his head so that my hands on him were the only parts of me touching him besides my lips. Arching my back, I kept my breasts away from him, teasing him, as I nibbled the kin on his neck and collarbone. His back arched, chest chasing mine.

"God, Nessie!" he growled out.

Chuckling against his skin, I moved around his neck, nibbling, sucking, and licking his skin, tasting him. He tasted of the woods and woodsy smoke. With a hiss, his hips bucked up into my center as I nibbled the spot under his left ear, the only hot spot of his that I could find…so far. I seemed to have many more than he did so I had to pay him back for all the times he caught me off guard.

After a moment of teasing him, I bit down hard on the spot and growled, making his entire body buck underneath me.

"Fuck," he let out between his teeth.

He was trying to keep his voice down so as not to wake Leila. But I loved it when he was so out of control that he cussed in front of me. It was only hot when we were in the bedroom. It let me know that he loved what I was doing to him, and that I was wearing out his hard won self-control. By the time we did this for real and went all the way, I didn't want him to have any self-control left to question what he was doing. I wanted everything to be instinct between us.

I let go of his skin and placed a gentle kiss over the spot. His chest heaved as if he'd been running as fast as he could for days, so I let him have a moment to contain himself. Looking up at his face, I found that his eyelids were fluttering, his tongue was darting out to lick his lips, and he was swallowing hard.

Smiling at his vulnerable state, I pressed a kiss to the bottom of his chin. He tried to lift his hands but I pressed down. He didn't fight me even though he could have totally won that battle.

Slowly and gently, I started to kiss a line down his neck, crossed his collarbones, and moved back to the center of his chest. Since I was moving down, I wasn't able to hold onto his wrists, but he was a good boy and kept them where he knew I wanted them as my hands slid over the undersides of his arms, my nails digging into his skin. Since my lips were gentle, I had to give him something rough. One must always keep balance.

One kiss at a time, I moved down the center of his body, occasionally flicking my tongue out to taste him. His chest met my mouth like the wave in a pool. Back and away. Back and away. Even though I was destined for a straight line, I just couldn't pass up the opportunity. Moving to my right, I left a trail of kisses and licks until I reached his nipple. The hickey on his chest was fresh so there was no need to breathe life into it.

I swirled my tongue over the dark circle, my eyes flicking up to his face so I could see his reaction. Those impossibly dark eyes were watching me, his hands still above his head, fists clenched. As I kept swirling my tongue over him, a low growl started in his chest. Until I bit down on him. Again, his whole body jerked, head pressing back into the mattress, another curse coming from between his teeth.

I growled against him again, and then released him, pressing yet another kiss over the bite. Moving over, we went through the same process with his other nipple, his hips bucking up into my center hard. I had to take a moment to breathe through the feeling of his hardness pressed there for only a few seconds.

When he chuckled at me, I dug my nails into the skin of his shoulders, effectively making him stop. Going back to the center of his chest I pressed kisses and bites in one straight line. I kept my arms stretched over my head, dragging my nails over his skin, my fingers caressing the contours of his chest, his muscles flexing under me.

My chin was at his belly button as my tongue darted out to taste his abs. My true goal though wasn't in the center of his body at all so I didn't spend much time there even though his stomach was a hot spot for me. Instead, I moved down, my nails tracing roughly across his chest, catching on his nipples, which made him arch again. Since I was so low on his body now, I watched how sensuous he was in the passion, how fast he was drowning in the feelings. This was how I wanted him. Feeling, not thinking.

He'd gripped the sheets in his fists that were still over his head, making the muscles in his arms bulge. The sight of him so caught up clenched my stomach into a knot of need, lust, and love all at the same time. The heat traveled down to spread to the space between my legs, making me instantly wet. I wanted to clench my legs together to get some friction, but his knees were between mine. So I just tried my best to block out the feeling, making this session more about him.

Lately it had been so much about me. About him learning how far he could go with me before I reached my limit. But I really hadn't gotten the chance to do more than make out with him and put that mark back on his chest. I wanted him to feel more instead of think, observe, and learn. No more thinking. Instinct and feelings were what was needed now, so I tried my hardest to push him out of his own head.

And so, I moved down even further on his body. Eventually my chin bumped the waistline of his jeans where they hung low on his hips. I could feel the veins standing out from the v-cut where his lower stomach dipped into lower territory. My goals that I had been after were to my left and right: the lines that sharply cut that triangle inward. My chest now pressed to his hardness through his jeans. It made me shiver knowing that just a scrap of denim separated his hard length from my eyes.

"Nessie," he whispered, dark eyes watching me.

"Do you trust me?" I whispered back, my breath caressing his skin.

He had to swallow hard a couple times before he could answer. "Yes, of course I do."

I gently pressed a kiss into the triangle, knowing what was nestled just below it under his jeans. He let his breath out harshly, panting.

"Fuck, Nessie," he growled out.

I had to close my eyes again at the feeling of the heat intensifying in my lower hips. Shelby had been right when she told me that I needed to find a way for release. After this, Jacob was going to head for the bathroom, as usual. And I was going to be left here panting in frustration. For now, I pushed that thought to the side. Eventually, I'd get my release somehow. If it wasn't by Jacob, I'd find a way.

Moving to my right, I moved up and pressed kisses to that sharp line until I reached the top. Moving down, I used my tongue to outline it. Jacob's arms braced again on the sheets, flexing the muscles in his arms and chest, his back bowing off the bed. On my third trip on the line, I used my teeth, nipping at his skin. It was difficult because there was hardly any fat here. It was all lean, hard muscle. But I did my best. And apparently, my best did the trick. His hips bucked into my chest, pressing his hardness between my breasts.

"Oh, god," he panted out. "More. God, please, more."

Surprised at that, I moved to the other side and performed the same three tracks up and down that sharp line. Those hips bucked into me again and again. I pressed my breasts down to grind into him, and we found a rhythm.

After a few minutes though, I leaned back to let him calm down. But there was one more thing I wanted to do before we stopped. Looking down at the waistline of his jeans, my tongue begged to be set free over that peek of skin and veins. While his eyes were closed, his chest heaving, I leaned over him. I flicked my tongue out, tasting him. He gasped. Smiling and keeping my tongue to his skin, I moved back and forth between his hip bones. He hissed, trying to not to buck his hips since he'd hit me in the face. My tongue dug under the waistband to the skin I couldn't see where the veins bulged a little bit more with the blood rushing to his hard length.

The growl that came from him startled me just before I felt him sit up and his hands wrap around my arms. He moved so fast that I didn't have time to even process what was happening until I felt one of his hands on my back and the other on my ass. His face was pressed between my breasts, teeth nibbling the flesh at the edges. He used his nose and chin to nudge at the bra.

"Take the damn thing off," I managed to whisper.

His fingers had just undone the clasp when a high-pitched wail echoed through the baby monitor. Gasping out a laugh, I rested my lips against his forehead as my bra was held to my chest only because it was pinned between us. We were both breathing hard, listening to Leila cry, as he stroked his hands up my bare back. His face was buried in my neck as he calmed down.

"I'll go get her," he whispered.

I ran my fingers through his hair. "You sure? Maybe you need a shower."

He shook his head. "I'm trying not to do that so much anymore. I want it to be special for us. Not to mention that I really should learn how to control myself."

Leaning back, I pressed the cups of my bra to my chest so that I could look at him. "Jacob, you do realize that that can hurt you, right? Don't do that to yourself. I understand, baby."

He gripped my fingers and placed a kiss to them. "I'm fine. Besides, I'm calming down already." He grinned. "I guess Leila's being helpful."

I tried to erase the worried look from my eyes as I smiled at him. Holding the bra to my chest, I rolled off of him. He sprung up off the bed, grabbed his shirt, and went for the stairs.

Lying back on the now rumpled bed, I finally rubbed my legs together, creating that friction, and my back bowed off the bed. I bit my bottom lip in an attempt to keep myself from groaning. Despite the fact that I didn't know what I was doing, my hands started to snake down my breasts and stomach, heading for the lower boundaries.

But the sounds of baby Leila cooing and Jacob softly talking to her quickly lowered the heat in my body. It was hot that he was so good with her, but I found it cuter. He was definitely father material.

I sighed. Taking the monitor off the bedside table, I rolled onto my stomach to watch them. I knew Jacob was waiting to take our relationship further until after our wedding. He was trying to drag it out. And I knew that he was secretly hoping I'd get it planned fast seeing as how he was becoming more comfortable with us. And truth be told, I was starting to understand. It would be more special to make love to my husband for the first time than just my boyfriend or fiancé. And my thought earlier about how we weren't ready for kids? Maybe I was wrong. Maybe that was our push point to help us get past this. A third wheel to give us incentive. Hmmm, I'd have to talk to him about it. Because the moment we make love for the first time could be the moment we create a child. The wolves can't wear condoms because of the heat. So we have to be sure we can handle all the consequences before we take that step.

But first I needed to get our wedding planned. I wanted to be Mrs. Black so bad. There was just something missing. Something didn't seem right to me, but I couldn't pin down what it was. Thanks to Jake today, I had my colors. My dress had been drawn up by Aunt Alice, Esme, Aunt Rose, and my mother. We'd start with the fittings and such next week. Emily, Rachel, and Claire were my bridesmaids. Shelby was my Maid of Honor so she'd also helped with the design of my dress and other necessities. She was planning just about everything else with Aunt Alice as well.

Bridal showers, bachelorette parties, invitations, guest lists, and other things. Seth had been mad at me for taking his girlfriend from him, but she'd smacked his shoulder telling him that it would be over soon.

"Yeah until we have to plan yours," Aunt Alice had said.

I'd had to stifle a laugh as Seth turned a darker tan color with his blush, and Shelby had stared wide-eyed at her mate.

Smiling at the memory and coming back to stare at the monitor, I made the determination that as soon as were back down at the house, I was going to dive into the wedding and get it done so that I could finally make love to my husband. Maybe then he wouldn't be so strung out over watching his back for Dad.

But also, I really wanted to watch him watch me walk down the aisle in the dress that I'd designed specifically for him.

* * *

**So just as in our previous story, I would love to have your reviews and such. I do believe this story may get difficult for me. So many of you want to see Leah and Caden. And Seth and Shelby. I haven't quite nailed Shelby's personality for this story. Obviously she's going to change a little after what happened in TFT so we'll see. I'm working on her POV right now. Love you guys! xoxoxoxoxo**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 has arrived! Now, the first chapter was steamy and this one will be, too. Even more so. And I can kind of already hear "why are you starting this so early?". Well, because that's how I see it happening. And I've had this story planned for a while. I'm already planning the third one, so please try to go with it if you want to read it. Not every chapter will have steam. I'm just trying to satisfy my and other fans' need for steam between our favorite couple right now. I'm getting them to a certain point, so I gotta start off early.**

**Now, please, enjoy!**

* * *

**Shelby POV**

It was about time Nessie and Jake took some time to be alone. The sexual tension was just about to kill me now that I had sensitive senses. I could smell the sex build up in them and then her frustration as he'd go to take care of himself. Though I gave him some credit because he'd slowed down on the whole do-it-myself approach. And it had been a lot calmer for her since their engagement. She'd been content for a while, but now that that newness was wearing off, she wanted more with her man.

After I finished my world weary sigh, I sniffed the warm, night air. It was strange that it was so warm out. But then again, with my now upped body temperature it felt like a thousand degrees out here. I'd stripped down to my cami-tank and was glad that I'd put on shorts before we left.

Seth, Caden, and Leah were helping me hone my hunting skills before I went out with the Cullens. At first, Caden had taught me about the Children of the Moon. We'd also discussed how I had yet to shift at the full moon. Even Carlisle and Edward had thrown in ideas, but the main denominator was that I was an imprint. Adam had suggested that there was more to an imprint than just a soul connection. That there may be a physical one. Carlisle had agreed saying that the night I was attacked, my heart had beat stronger when Seth was near me or touching me. Unless it was something else. Something that none of us had theorized.

"Alright," came a now familiar English accent. "They're all hidden and trails are semi-covered. Now, before you take off-,"

"I know, I know," I huffed, bouncing on the balls of my feet. "You want me to stand here and get my bearings. Chill. I know."

Caden came to stand near me, arms crossed over his muscular chest. A scar ran across his stomach from where Tristan had swiped at him months ago. The scar would never fully heal because it had been done by a claw of our kind.

"Clearly, you know. You said it-what, three times? –in that sentence."

"Oh, bit me," I snapped.

He chuckled. "Not sure your man would like that too much, love. Now, do as I instructed."

Shooting him one last glare, I stilled my feet and closed my eyes. Calming myself down even more, I took a few deep breaths, trying to get my heart to pound a little quieter. After a moment, it slowed down and the sound moved to background noise.

"Good," Caden said in a low voice. "Now, listen."

Swallowing a smartass comeback, I did as he instructed. The first thing I heard was him. He was standing so close to me that I could hear his breath as it scratched out his throat, his heart beat loud as a drum next to me. The blood in his veins rushed to take oxygen to the rest of his body and then raced back to his lungs to grab more.

"What do you hear?" he whispered.

"You," I said softly.

"What else? Stretch it further, past me. Listen to the woods around us. Tune me out."

Moving my head here and there, I listened to the woods around me, tuning him out. It took a moment, but eventually I was able to focus on the sounds further from us. Birds chirped, deer tucking in for the night, small animals scurrying here and there, and crickets as the night engulfed us.

"Tell me."

"Birds."

"What of them?"

"They're chirping, talking to one another."

"Are they calm or alarmed over something? Is their chirping happy?"

I strained my ear wanting desperately to open my eyes and search for the birds. "They're calm, happy with the warmth."

I could hear the smile in his voice. "Good. Very good. Tell me more. Tell me everything…including what you smell now."

Before I answered, I took a deep breath through my nose. A whirlwind of scents assaulted me, making my eyes water. I smelled the rank sweetness of the Cullens, the disease flooding through Caden's blood, my blood. I could smell the different types of animals and insects racing around us, the plants as they tucked their leaves for the night.

"Easy, Shelby. Focus on one scent. Pick one out of all of them. Tell me about it."

Searching through them mentally, I found one that I had become fond of. I smiled. "Seth. The smell of the earth, moss. Musky but not too strong.

"Where is it coming from?"

Another deep breath, scenting the wind. I had to move with the breeze to be able to find it again. "North of us, a few miles up."

Caden was at my ear when he whispered, "Find him."

Snapping my eyes open, it was as if Seth's scent had laid down a trail for me. My feet took off long before my brain had given the order. I dodged into the dark woods, jumping over roots. Limbs and twigs scraped my skin and dragged through my hair but I didn't care. My goal was Seth. His scent became stronger and stronger, thicker, the closer I got to him until suddenly he was right in front of me. I must have been faster than we both thought because he blinked at me as if he was just registering my presence before I pounced playfully on him, taking us to the ground with me on top.

"Got you," I whispered, pressing my lips to his.

Once he got over his shock, he kissed me back as he grinned. His hands moved down to the backs of my thighs and squeezed. "Yes, you did." He pushed me up his chest to press another kiss to my lips, growling slightly.

"You like that, don't you?" I whispered before I clamped my teeth over his lower lip.

His eyes fluttered shut as he groaned. He squeezed my thighs again, but this time downward against his hips. "Like what? That my woman is a sexy as hell predator now? I freaking love it."

Since my "infection", my sex drive had shot up to some strange proportions. It was probably because the feeling of Seth had been so dull when I'd been fully human. Now that my senses were heightened, everything about him was sharper, smoother, less grainy. The feel of his naked skin sliding against mine when we were tangled up in bed felt like fur and silk at the same time. Luxurious and addictive.

He'd also told me that when we'd made love before, he'd had to watch himself, just in case, so that he didn't hurt me. Now, I could see his point. We'd had to move the bed away from the wall to keep it from chipping the plaster and waking Jake and Nessie. Most of the time we ended up on the floor though.

Something had changed in Seth both when we started having sex and after I'd been infected. He was different with me than when we were out around other people. When it was just us, he was more dominant, a little less polite. Our personalities melding seemed to have brought out the dominant male in him, making him want to dominate me, tame me. And I loved and "fought" every second of it.

But my sex drive must have hit the gas pedal for now because all I wanted to do was strip down and roll over the ground with him.

Sensing the heat rising up in me, Seth rolled us so that he was on top. Usually, we fought over it, but I decided to let him win. His hands roamed my body over the thin clothing I had on as I sank my nails into his skin enough to bleed him and dragged them down his arms. Those silky lips of his pressed so hard into my skin that I could feel the edge of his teeth.

"Oh, good grief," a voice said from the trees. "Don't you two ever take a break nowadays?"

I didn't really acknowledge Leah and Caden as they watched us in the dirt and leaves. Seth's teeth were set into my skin and my eyes had closed in pleasure.

He broke away just enough to say, "Go away, Leah. I'm busy." And then his teeth were back on my skin, his hips digging into my core from where my legs were wrapped around his waist.

"Come on, love. Let's let them have a moment," I heard Caden say with a suggestive lilt. I knew where that was heading.

"At the rate they're going, there are going to be little Shelbys and Seths all over the place," she said as they walked off.

Yeah, she was one to talk. She had locked herself into the Clearwater home on the rez with Caden for a week solid. I'd come to find out that he was a very sensual, sexual creature. Every chance he got, he was on Leah. And she loved it. But I was happy for her. She was happier now that he was in her life, and she seemed like less of a bitch.

Seth and I both stopped and leaned back at the same time, staring at each other, breathing hard. I didn't know what his reason was for backing up, but my reason made me chew on my lip. Seth brought up a hand so he could run a finger between my eyes.

"Hey, you ok?" he asked, worry in his eyes.

I nodded, taking his hand in mine and kissing his fingers. "Yeah, just thinking."

"What's up, sweetheart?"

The question I wanted to ask him he'd see as a trap. I knew he would, but it wasn't. I wanted an honest answer.

I chewed on my lip and didn't meet his eyes. "Baby, is-is there something different about me? Like not the infection or whatever. Something else. Something that you've noticed is out of character for me with our without the disease."

There. It was in his eyes. It was that, "Does this dress make me look fat?" question that all guys got trapped into. But that wasn't how I wanted him to take it.

"Seth, there's not going to be a consequence. I just really want to know if there is something."

He sighed and rolled onto his side, leaning on his elbow. With his free hand, he brushed the hair out of my face. "Well, there is one thing." He flinched. "I just don't want you to take it the wrong way, ok?"

I nodded. "Of course. I wouldn't have asked if I didn't want to know."

He took a deep breath and gave me an apologetic glance. "Well, you have gained a little weight." There must have been an expression on my face that I didn't intend because he quickly continued. "It's not that I don't like it." He blushed. "I mean, I like having something to hold onto. But it just seems odd. Your metabolism should have kicked up with the werewolf infection, therefore, you shouldn't be gaining weight. I wanted to ask you about it, but I thought you'd get mad."

Smiling up at him, I stroked up the scratches I'd left on his arms. "It's ok. That's what I wanted to know. Anything else?"

His brows furrowed as he thought about it. "Um, you did eat fish the other day. I wasn't quite sure if you knew that or not."

My eyebrows shot up. "Fish?" And then my stomach rumbled. I frowned. "But I don't like fish."

"Exactly," he said, giving me a look. But then his look turned serious. "Shelbs, what's going on? Why are you asking?"

Rolling out from under him and back up onto my bare feet, I held a hand out to him. "Come on. I need to ask someone a question."

"Shelby, what is going on?"

"I'm having a hunch," I said as I led him through the woods, following a recent scent.

"A good one or a bad one? Please don't say bad one."

"Well that would depend. But for you? Probably good. Me? I still haven't decided yet."

Looking back at him, I saw his eyes widen. "Shelby?"

I just shook my head. "Let's find Caden."

But finding him proved very bad for my health. We came into a clearing to find his bare back and ass glowing in the moonlight. His body was moving in a forward and back motion that I was very familiar with. The only parts of Leah that I could see were her legs wrapped around his lower legs and her nails scratching down his back as he pumped forward. The moans and grunts coming from them made me swallow hard and step backward into Seth's chest.

What the hell was it with all this sexual crap going around? Was it still mating season or something? Taking a deep breath, I pushed Seth back into the trees with my back against his chest. Once we were far enough away that we couldn't hear them, I slowed down and took Seth's hand.

"Well, that was a new nightmare I didn't need," he said pressing a kiss to our intertwined fingers. Then he tugged on them, making me turn to face him. "Seriously, Shelby, what's going on? Why did you need to talk to him?" His eyes darted down to my stomach. "Do you really think you're pregnant?"

I squeezed his hand before letting it go. Slightly turning away from him, I rubbed my arms as if I were suddenly cold. And I kind of was but on the inside.

"I just don't know, Seth. I mean, seriously, what is it with all the sex and babies happening?"

I heard him chuckle. "Shelby, it's mating season for wolves. They-_we_- are happy. It's warm out, food is abundant, and it's play time. And," he came to me, tilting my chin in his direction. "Emily's the only one who's had a baby this year, which is actually a low record for us since more wolves phased and mated. So, please tell me what's going on?"

I sighed and met his eyes. "Before I was attacked in November, I-well-I thought I was pregnant. My theory is that I lost the baby at the attack. Which is totally believable. Of course it doesn't explain why I haven't shifted in all these months, but over the months, I had this urge to follow Caden when he went."

"But?" he prodded gently, taking me into his arms.

Wrapping my arms around his waist, I put my ear against his chest so that I could hear his heart beating. "But this past full moon, my body was completely quiet. There was no urge to shift and run on all fours. I was completely content where I was. What the hell could explain that?"

He took in a breath, but before he could answer, there was a rustle in the bushes just before Caden walked through with Leah not far behind.

"Pregnancy could certainly explain it. You're right that it doesn't explain the months in between of not shifting, but I'd be curious to know that if you are pregnant, what would happen _after _the pup was born?"

I arched an eyebrow. "Pup?"

He shrugged. "It's been my terminology for years, love. Please, forgive it."

"How long have you been a werewolf?" I asked.

He took Leah's hand and brought it to his lips. "I may look like I'm eighteen, but I haven't been there for a while. Enough about me. Let's talk about you. You said you thought you were pregnant before the attack?"

I nodded, gripping Seth tighter. "That's why I was out in the woods that night. J-Jordan and I really hadn't gone far from the house. I needed to think and then I was going to go find Seth when we were attacked and taken up to that clearing."

He nodded, keeping us on the subject. "And you think you might be pregnant now?"

I caught Leah smiling and glancing at her bother. "What?" I asked.

Her smile turned to a grin. "I can't believe how excited I am at that possibility. And good job, bro. At least we know you're good for something."

"Oh, shut up," he said, blushing and burying his face in my hair.

I squeezed him again.

"Shelby," Caden said, bringing my attention to him.

"Oh, right. Sorry. Um, well, when I asked Seth if something about me was different, he said that I'd gained some weight, which, like he said, didn't make sense since my metabolism should have kicked up." Then I made a face. "And apparently, I ate fish. I hate fish." But my stomach rumbled again at the mention. I told it to shut up.

Caden studied me for a moment, eyes roaming my body. It was nothing sexual, just taking me in. He crossed his arms over his chest.

"How did you know she gained weight, Seth? She looks the same to me," Leah said, the same look in her eyes as her mate.

He blushed again. "I hold every inch of her body in my hands at least once every other day. As the wolf that imprinted on her, I know her. And I could feel the difference."

Caden got a very evil glint in his eye. "Which part is heavier?"

This time when Seth's face turned red, it wasn't from a blush. I stroked his face and neck, calming him down. His fingers dug into my waist. I glared at Caden, who chuckled. Leah just smiled and looked confusedly at the man beside her.

"So her breasts then."

Leah laughed. My face erupted into a blush. Seth just blinked at him. "How'd you know that?"

Caden nodded, the seriousness returning. "When a woman becomes pregnant, one of the first signs of it is enlarged breasts from the milk. It's subtle at first. But as the baby grows bigger, so does the parts of the woman that are needed the most after birth."

"How do you know _that_?" I asked.

His eyes turned sad as they stared at the forest floor. Leah came up to take his hand and rest her head on his shoulder.

"It's ok, Caden," she whispered.

He smiled sadly at her and shook his head. "I can't hide my past from them forever, love." Then, he looked at us. "I had a family once. I had a mate, a son, and a pup on the way." He closed his eyes and swallowed. "And then they were taken from me. All of them."

I gasped, putting a hand over my mouth as I leaned into Seth. He held me to him, his hand already creeping toward my stomach to protect something that we didn't even know was there. Maybe his instinct told us the answer.

"I'm sorry, man. I couldn't imagine losing Shelby now that I have her. And if we have kids or are about to have one, I wouldn't be able to stand it, losing them." He stepped forward, still holding on to me to hold out his hand to Caden. "Did you get the bastard?"

Caden took the offering, gripping Seth's forearm. "Thank you. And no, I didn't. I came home to find them. But I knew it was a vampire."

"How?" I asked.

"The scent. And I caught a glimpse of the bastard before he took off into the trees, my family's blood all over his face."

He stepped back to wrap his arms around Leah. She'd been standing back to let him grieve for the family he'd lost. It was a sign that she didn't want to give the impression of replacing them.

"I'm so sorry, Caden," I whispered.

He squeezed Leah to him. "It's alright. It happened a while ago, and now I have Leah." He flashed a dazzling smile at her. "She helped me learn to let it all out so I'm not angry all the time over it. But if I ever run into that bloodsucker, I will rip him apart for them and any other family he's torn apart."

"And I know I'd be happy to watch," I said, my own hand creeping toward Seth's. Well, if that didn't support our theory.

"We should get you to Carlisle," Caden said. "If you are pregnant, we need to know."

"We'll wait til Nessie and Jake come back. Shelby will want her best friend there. And I'll want my Alpha and pack brother there."

"Thank you, Seth," I whispered, leaning up to kiss him. He met me halfway. "I love you."

"I love you, too. But tell me something, why aren't you sure that this is a good hunch?"

I chewed on my lip. Nessie and I had already had this conversation and she'd put me in my place. But I just couldn't help but be nervous. Seth understood my silence, though. He stepped back so that he could lean down so we'd be face to face.

"Listen to me, Shelby. You. Are. Not. Your. Mother. Do you hear me?"

His stare was so intense that I almost couldn't meet it. But I managed and was surprised to find strength there. My strength. I gripped his face between my hands.

"Just don't let me do this alone. Please. If I am pregnant, don't leave me," I whispered.

"Never, Shelby. I would never leave you or our baby."

"He wouldn't be able to," Caden said from behind me. I turned to him. "If you are pregnant, the first time you see or hear that tiny baby," he shook his head. "You will kill to get back to Shelby at the end of the day. But I think it's different for us since we have animals living inside us. With wolves, the males rarely leave their pregnant females. And when Alora was still alive and pregnant, I couldn't be away from her without becoming extremely aggressive."

"Was she a wolf?"

He shook his head. "No, she was human."

Leah fidgeted next to him and my heart beat for her. "I'm sorry, Leah."

She smiled. "Don't be. I know the story. And as much as I already love him, I wouldn't wish that on anyone."

"You already love me, huh?" Caden said teasingly.

Leah blushed.

"Well, hallelujah," Seth chimed in.

"Oh, shut up," she said copying her brother's words from earlier. "Come on. Let's get back to the house. We're all starving."

Laughing, we all started walking toward the house. Seth and I shared a look and smile as did Leah and Caden. As we walked, Leah took my hand in hers and squeezed. We were just two female wolves standing between the book ends of our males, finally getting along.

But the whole way back down, I had the weirdest feeling that whatever had happened back in November wasn't even close to over. This happy little peace wouldn't last.

And I might be pregnant when the next wave comes crashing down.

**JPOV**

Man, that kid didn't wanna go down. Emily had been right. She fell asleep in my arms and wouldn't go into the crib. Eventually I got the idea to wrap her in the blanket and rock her with it against my body. It worked. The blanket had absorbed my heat, so that when I placed her in the crib, she was still out.

Jogging down the stairs, I nearly lost it when I found Nessie on her stomach on the bed, her back bared to the room. She was still in her hiphugger jeans and I could see the skin of where her hips started to slope out into her ass. Didn't that just get me hot under waistband again?

I went to stand next to the bed, right where I could be between her legs if she brought them down. She didn't though, so I gripped the legs of her jeans and tugged her legs down so they were on either side of my hips. She put whatever it was that she was holding down on the bed and turned to look at me over her shoulder.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

I slid my hands up the backsides of her legs. When I got to the backs of her thighs, I got up onto the bed on my knees. To steady myself, I had to move so that her legs were between my knees, much like she had been earlier.

When she raised an eyebrow at me, I answered with, "Payback," before I slid my hands up over her ass. She arched her hips back to press into my hands with a shaky sigh.

"Jake," she gasped.

"What? Don't tell me you don't want this. If you didn't, you would have changed into your pajamas."

She couldn't argue with me and she knew it, so she just rested on her elbows and watched me. Her hips and butt were my favorites. Though her breasts weren't far behind. She definitely hadn't gotten those from Bells. These curves had to have come from Edward's side. My hands traced the skin just over the line of her jeans the way her tongue had done with me. She'd been so close to places she'd never seen and it had been hot as hell. I decided right then to give her the same payback, but I had other things to do first.

Keeping up with my hands, my eyes followed them as they moved up her sides. When I hit her ribs she shivered because the tips of my fingers had brushed the sides of her breasts where they were pressing out from being squished into the mattress. I stopped and pressed my fingers firmly into her flesh. She bowed her back and arched her hips into me, pressing her ass into my jeans. I growled, wanting more than anything to take her when she was like this. She'd just gotten over Mother Nature's visit and I could sense that this was the prime time to have her.

But I just couldn't do that. So I savagely beat that instinct back. Right now wasn't the time. Not yet.

Instead, I let my hands finish their roaming of her back before I leaned back and press a kiss the slop above her jeans. She gasped and turned around to look at me. I just smiled at her over her skin. Lust was written all over her face as was a dare. I took the challenge and flicked my tongue out over her skin. She had two small dimples just as her hips sloped down and out, and I swirled my tongue over them. Her eyes closed and her fingers gripped the sheets. This was my payback. Slowly, very slowly, I slid my tongue up her spine, tasting her. God, she tasted like honey, minted honey because of her body wash. But I could handle that. She tasted divine, the way a goddess should. And I couldn't believe that she was mine, that she wanted me as much as I wanted her.

When I got to her neck, I wrapped my teeth over her spine there and bit down as I growled. This was what I liked to call her submissive hot spot. As soon as I bit down, her body went limp under mine. When I growled, she whimpered a little bit. The first time she'd done that I had jumped off of her so fast it wasn't even funny. But she'd assured me it was because she liked the feeling of me being on top of her, taking control of her. And she liked that I liked it.

Her body moved, arched, and bowed underneath mine as I sat over her on all fours with my teeth still around her. Slowly, I let her go and pressed a kiss to her skin. She groaned into the blankets. While she recovered, I just sat there and stared at her. I could only see one side of her face but that part was peaceful. Her back rose and fell with the shallow pants but she was smiling.

When she rolled over, I was a little surprised, but then I found that her arm was wrapped over her breasts. Even though we'd had times that she'd be pressed to me bare chested, I've never actually seen her bare and she knew that. She lifted her other hand to my face.

"I love payback."

That was not what I had been expecting and it made me laugh. I kissed her palm as she moved it over my lips. She moved so that she was gripping the back of my neck, pulling me down. I went and met her lips with mine. Her kiss was hungry. I knew that because her teeth nipped at my lips and her tongue traced my teeth. But she pulled away too soon and I groaned.

She wiggled and squirmed to get out from under me.

"Where are you going?" I asked. "I'm not done yet."

"Oh, I know," she said, smiling at me. She used her free hand to scoot up the bed so that she was leaning on the pillows. Watching her lay like that made stare. She was so beautiful with her soft but straight shoulders that led to her perfectly shaped breasts which were barely covered. Her torso was long and lean leading down to flare out at her hips, her flat belly leading down to the juncture of her long legs. Her hair was pulled to one side and back so that she wasn't laying on it but it wasn't in viewing disturbance areas.

My eyes caught the movement of her arm that was covering her. She moved it so that only her arm and one hand were covering her. My eyes narrowed at her suspiciously. She grinned evilly as she moved again, her fingertips barely covering her.

"What are you doing?"

"Testing you."

I opened my mouth to say something. But before I could, she moved her entire arm down to her waist. Baring herself to me. My eyes immediately darted away.

"Nessie, what-,"

"Jacob, look at me."

I shook my head.

"Jacob, I know that you want to wait until later to make love to me. I do understand that. But I don't want us to be two fumbling morons. I know nearly every part of your body, except for that one place. And frankly, I don't want to wait to see it. You want to wait until we're married and such to just see things, but I don't. I want to know what I'm getting myself into."

Quickly, I met her eyes and held them there, trying not to hone in my peripheral vision skills.

"Nessie-,"

There was a challenge in her eyes. "Go on, Jake. Give me a valid argument for why we shouldn't do this. Don't tell me you don't want to." She repeated my words from earlier.

And man, did I want to look down. I wanted to see what I'd been holding and kissing, what had been pressed to my chest a thousand times.

"What's the difference, Jake, between your chest and mine? Other than the fact that I have to wear a bra. Well, I guess I don't exactly have to, but the only reason I'm different than you is because mine are for the use of a child. And to turn males on, but that's not the point. Just because you see my breasts doesn't mean that we have to make love. We both still have our jeans on."

I looked away from her toward the closet door. "Nessie, if I look at you like that, I'll want to touch you."

A moment later, I felt the bed move. Of course. I'd pissed her off so now she was going to get dressed and go to bed. I sighed, feeling like shit.

But before I could wallow in my stupidity, I felt her hand take mine. She lifted it up to place it on her chest, over her heart just above her breast. She'd placed it over the mark that I'd given her there.

"Then touch me, Jacob." Her other hand came up to my cheek, forcing me to meet her eyes. "I'm not scared of this anymore. I won't fight what I feel. Why are you still fighting yourself?"

Dammit, she was right. I was fighting my instinct to be with her because I didn't want to hurt her or have her regret what we do before we get married. I didn't want her to get caught up in the moment and regret me. That would tear me apart.

And she knew exactly what I was thinking. "I won't regret you. Would like to know why?"

I nodded because, frankly, I was curious what her thinking was.

"People only regret doing those things with other people after they break up and realize that what they had hadn't been all that special. But, Jake, I know you're not going to leave me for another woman. In the end, I'd still be giving you myself on the other side of marriage. We both know that neither of us is leaving the other, ever. And I know you're also scared you're going to hurt me. You've said as much. But whether or not we make love now or later, you'll still be worried you'll hurt me. And you know what? I'm just going to tell you now that whether or not you're scared, you'll still hurt me, at least a little."

"What?" I asked, panicking at the inevitability in her voice.

She smiled gently. "Jacob, think about it. When we make love for the first time, you'll be stretching my body. My body doesn't like change. But also, it hurts every woman who's a virgin. There's no way around that, but I'm ok with that."

"You are?"

She shrugged. "I want to make love to you. Once I get used to you being inside me, it won't be bad at all unless we go weeks without doing it and my body goes back to normal, but I doubt that'll happen. Which brings me to my next point. You said you were wanting to learn to control yourself now. Here's your chance because I seriously doubt that we'll be controlling ourselves after we realize how amazing sex is."

We both laughed at that, which was what she was trying to do. Her heart thudded under my palm nice and even. She wasn't nervous.

"You've really thought about this, haven't you?"

Again she shrugged. "Of course I have. I want you to understand. You keep saying that you're listening, but you aren't actually _hearing_ me. Pay attention to my body, to how much I want you. I'm not scared or worried or fighting anymore."

The determination in her eyes suddenly made me see her in a whole new light. She really was a woman now. A woman who knew what she wanted. I was her man. And she saw that better than I did. I was a man, not a boy anymore. It was like even when I had come to the conclusion to man up, I really hadn't, not in every aspect of my life. She was trying to get me to realize that we had nothing to be ashamed of since we both knew that neither of us was going anywhere but right back to the other at the end of the day. We weren't teenagers who had no idea if we were going to make it til tomorrow. We were fiancés, engaged to be married to each other.

Swallowing hard, I leaned forward, kissed her lips, and said, "Lie back again."

Her skin left my hand as she smiled before scooting back over to the pillows. I kept my eyes on hers the whole time, drowning in the love. Closing my eyes and taking a deep breath, I let it out slow.

Slowly, I opened my eyes and started with her face. She smiled at me in a way that she knew I was fighting with the child in me that wanted to be embarrassed. I shoved that child down as my eyes moved over her bare shoulders, the mark that I'd left over her heart, and finally over her breasts. Once I saw her, I really couldn't understand why I'd made a big deal out of it. I'd kissed, bitten, and licked parts of her even though it had been through a t-shirt. Hell, she'd been bare pressed up to my chest before. Not to mention that my face had been buried between her barely covered breasts. The only parts of them I hadn't seen or touched had been her nipples. Really, what the hell was wrong with me? Had I really thought that I'd lose all my good sense and ravage her the moment I saw something that had once been forbidden?

But God was she beautiful. Perfectly proportioned. The centers were a rosy pink and dainty. I forced my eyes over the rest of her, all the way down to the waistband of her jeans, wanting to explore the rest of her. This must be what she meant about wanting to see all of me.

I knew my eyes had gone dark when I looked at her and she had that knowing smile and look in her eyes. Softly growling, I crawled over to her, my knees on either side of her legs, my hands sinking into the pillows. She brought her hands us to my face and brought our lips together. This time, we were both hungry. I nipped and sucked on her lips and tongues, still growling. I sat back on my knees, technically on her legs, and brought my hands up to her bare shoulders.

"Touch me, Jacob. Please," she whispered.

I moved my lips to her neck as I stroked my hands down her arms and then jumped to her waist. The skin was warm and soft here. I could almost meet my fingers and thumbs around her waist and back. But she was lean muscle, not just skin and bone. She rested her head back against the headboard, her hands stroking over the muscles of my back and shoulders, as I kissed and nibbled her neck. But my concentration was all in my hands. Slowly, I raised them up over her ribs and my thumbs brushed the undersides of her breasts. That soft flesh that I'd started sinking my teeth into through her sleep shirts. She groaned as her flesh came into contact with mine. Her nails scratched down my back.

Not able to be slow anymore, I slid my palms over her, feeling her nipples tighten with the feeling. Her groan turned a sharp gasp followed by a moaned, "Oh, god." I gently massaged my hands over her and her back bowed, pushing her harder into my hands.

If I'd thought other stretches of her skin were soft, the skin here was downright heaven. Ok, I couldn't help it. I needed to taste her. So I experimented and moved my lips down to her collarbone. When she didn't object, I moved to the other side, to the mark over her heart. She still didn't protest and I knew that she knew what I was up to. She'd told me to pay attention to her body. Well, her body was telling me not to stop.

That was the thought that got me hot and made me replace my hand with my mouth, sealing my lips over her with a growl. She let out a surprised gasp and her hips bucked up. She bowed her back even more into my mouth, digging her nails further into my shoulders. This was so much more different than having a shirt between us.

The difference was that the shirt didn't taste near as delicious as she did. Minted honey and something that was just Nessie. A sweet tanginess.

I groaned and then growled when her nails dug into my shoulders, going deep. But I didn't care. Slowly, I brought my tongue into contact, and that was my last straw on the patience. Wrapping my arms around her waist, I kept my mouth sucking on her as I picked her up and laid her back down so that she was flat to the bed. Her legs spread out and I lay between them. My upper stomach pressed to the center of her body and her hips moved, creating a friction.

"Jacob! Oh, god, Jake! Please," she gasped out, snaking her nails up into my hair, pushing my head toward her chest.

While I was busy with one breast, I brought my hand up to explore the other. Instinctively, my fingers played over her nipple. It was tight and taut. And it was strange to think that something I had looked at in the mirror every morning without a shirt was the one thing that I had felt was forbidden about her when she'd seen my chest nearly every day of her life. Not to mention that this just seemed so natural.

But I wanted to experiment, so I bit down slightly. Not enough to make a mark, but enough to put some pressure there. Her body bucked hard and it was her turn to growl. It was time to back off a little. I didn't want to get too carried away. We had yet to discuss how much was too much in the pain area. So I lifted up and pressed a kiss over her.

Looking at her breast got me thinking about the fact that we also had that in common. Sitting up a little, I managed to get my shirt off and look down at my own chest. Really the only difference between us was color. Again, it struck me as odd that I'd felt like it should have been something different, something that I'd never seen in my life, but really I'd been seeing it every day.

"What's wrong?" she panted. Her chest heaved with uneven breaths.

I couldn't help myself. I laughed. "Nothing. We have something in common. You were right."

Her brows came down in confusion until I reached down to stroke my thumb over her nipple and used my other hand to stroke over my own. Understanding crossed her face. She reached up to scrape her nails over me, making me hiss and growl.

"See? Now you know," she said.

Since her nails had found a new home on my chest, I bent down to her other breast, taking it into my mouth and giving it the same attention. Those nails sank into my skin as I sucked her into my mouth, playing my tongue over her. Again, I groaned at the taste.

My hands traveled over her exposed torso, playing with the waistband of her jeans. I wanted so badly to pull them off and explore her. Man, my mouth was getting brave. I decided to cash in my payback, kissing her breast as I had the other one and started moving down.

When I got to the top of her stomach though, she tugged on my hair.

"Stop. Jake, stop." She laughed as I looked up at her with a question. "It's ok, I'm fine. It's just too much to take in. If you keep going I won't be able to handle it without going all the way. Your mouth on my breasts was just so much more amazing than I was anticipating."

That hit me with affection. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Stopping us. I was so caught up that I probably would have gone all the way."

She nodded and smiled. "I know. And I also know that you want to wait." She sat up and took my hands in hers. "Jacob, just because I say that I'm ok with us finishing it doesn't mean that I want to do it right this second. We have time to explore. I'm not trying to rush you by saying I'm comfortable. I'm telling you that so that you know that if you want to explore me, I don't mind."

All I could do was stare at her. "How the hell did I get so lucky? Good god, I love you, woman."

A giggle escaped her. "I love you, too, my big bad wolf." She squirmed out from under me and crawled to the end of the bed. "Now, let's get ready for bed. I'm pretty sure you wore me out."

I was off the bed in two point five seconds, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "Stay here. Don't do anything."

Her eyebrows shot up in confusion. "Ok?" The bra in her hand dropped to the floor.

I shot into the closet, quickly stripped down, and pulled on a pair of black boxers. When I went back into the room, she was standing there, her arms wrapped around her stomach. Her breasts were a little pink from all the attention I'd given them. A growl of appreciation and cockiness escaped me with a smirk.

When I stepped up to her, she placed her hands on my chest. "Can I get dressed now?" I shook my head and slid down to my knees, her hands sliding over my skin. "Jacob, what are you doing?"

I wanted to kiss her stomach so bad, but I was keeping to what she said even though we weren't caught up in the moment anymore. But I did reach up and unbuttoned her jeans while I met her eyes. She caught what I was trying to do and her hands went to the back of her panties so that they wouldn't come down with me tugging on her tight jeans. When I got them down to her knees, her hands went to my shoulders so that she could step out of them.

My eyes followed her legs all the way up her body. They stopped briefly at her breasts and then moved up to her smiling face.

"There. Now you're ready for bed," I whispered.

She stroked my face. "But what if Leila wakes up?"

"There's a robe hanging on the closet door or I could go get her."

She leaned down and pressed a kiss to my lips. "I love you so very much, Jacob Black."

"I love you, too, future-Mrs.-Black."

She grinned at me before I rose up and scooped her into my arms, making her squeal. On the way to the bed, I played my mouth over her chest. She playfully slapped the back of my head.

"Jacob! I knew that was a bad idea letting you do that."

"Mmmm," I murmured against her skin before I laid her down.

I pulled the sheets out from under her and put them over her. Then I went to the fireplace. It was always nice to sleep to it so I put some more wood in even though it really didn't need it. Hopefully, that would help it last closer to morning. We'd be up early anyway with Leila. One of us could tend to it then. Turning out the lights, I was even more grateful for the fire. Even with my eyes, I couldn't see in pitch black.

While I was tending the fire, Nessie had been checking the baby monitor, turning up the volume. She and I both were rock-like sleepers, so we needed the volume.

"Everything ok?" I asked as I slipped under the sheets, reaching for her waist.

She set it back on the table. "Yup, still out." Stroking her hand up my arm, she let me pull her up against my body.

I kissed her shoulder, her neck, her cheek, and when she turned to me, her lips. "Love you."

"Love you, too."

Again, I couldn't help myself. I slid my hand up her stomach to grip her breast. I grinned in the darkness against her hair.

She sighed. "This is why you didn't want me in a shirt, isn't it?"

Chuckling, I slid my hand further up to the side of her face so that I could turn her back to me for another, deeper kiss. She rolled over so that she was facing me and got her revenge in digging her nails into my chest as she deepened the kiss even further.

When I groaned, she leaned back with a grin. "Hands to yourself, Jacob, and there will be no need to tease you."

I laughed against her lips. "You little fox. Ok, you win. Let's go to sleep before dawn comes and Leila wakes up."

"Us sleeping is all up to you, dear."

I kissed the tip of her nose. "I'll be good, I promise."

Sighing, she cuddled up to my chest and slipped a leg between mine. She'd been doing that lately to get closer to me. But I didn't mind as long as she didn't start dreaming of playing soccer or karate kicking something. Then, we'd have to have a talk after I relearned how to breathe.

She must have been more exhausted than I'd thought because within moments she was out. Her breathing had evened out and deepened. The tension in her muscles had disappeared. When she shivered, she scooted closer to me, her chest pressing into my upper stomach. That made me shiver, but I reached down to pull the heavy comforter over us. I'd get warm and kick it off during the night, but she wouldn't so I bundled it around her more than me so that I wouldn't kick it off of her.

Not five minutes after she fell asleep, I followed her with the scent of mint and honey enveloping me.

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**Soooooo, was that enough steam for you guys? It was for me, whew. I had to wipe off my glasses. Teeheehee. Anywhozzle, please let me know what ya think. Reviews help me write faster and they make me happy. xoxoxoxoxo**


	3. Chapter 3

**Oh, hey! *skids into the room* I'm here, I'm here. I made it...and with another update! Please don't throw anything at me. This chapter was so hard to write because I was debating on how to write Jacob's POV but I ended up with my original idea. I think this story might be a thousand times steamier than TFT. But that's ok.**

**Sooooooo, there's a disclaimer here. **

**And please enjoy!**

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**RPOV**

_The flames were smothering as they reached out for me. But I couldn't give in to the drug of smoke they tried to force down my throat into my lungs. There was someone I needed to find, and fast._

_Coughing, I threw my arm over my nose, trying to breathe through the fabric of my shirt. Rafters were falling all around me. We didn't have much time before the small building collapsed on us._

_The more I fought through the small area, the larger it seemed to become and everything started to look the same. Eventually, I just stopped in the middle of the room, looking around for some point of familiarity._

_It was that moment that I actually did recognize the place: the cabin. And it was still burning. Somewhere in here Caden was on the floor, passed out. I had to find him. I had to get us both out of here. Something told me that this time, Jacob wouldn't be here to help us._

_And with the thought of my soon-to-be husband, my dream shifted. It was like the entire world paused just long enough for the cabin to bleed away and the fire to become nonexistent. With the cabin gone though, I was left in the woods, in a clearing, that I had become familiar with months ago._

_No! I wouldn't go through this again. I needed to wake up…right now._

_But as that thought crossed my mind, a shadow flitted through the woods. My heart accelerated as I stepped over the fallen tree. For some sick reason, I felt compelled to follow the shadow, knowing what I would find on the other side._

_I didn't know whether to expect the wolf or the man, but as soon as I stepped around the tree, I dropped to my knees. Know that I knew I was madly in love with Jacob, my entire world stopped the second I saw him lying in the dirt, his throat a gaping second mouth, and blood pooling under his head. Slowly and jerkily, I crawled to his lifeless body, his mother's ring glinting in the moonlight on my finger. My body was completely numb. I didn't feel anything. No cold, no twigs or rocks digging into my knees and palms. Nothing. My heart had stopped._

_When I was leaning over him and found his eyes open, staring blankly at me, I started to scream. Angry at him for leaving me, I pounded a fist onto his chest and then another and another. My throat was raw. Tears were streaming down my face and onto his cold skin. And the pain that suddenly flooded me paralyzed me._

_Taking a deep breath, I screamed, "JACOB!"_

_"Nessie," I heard in my ear, in his voice. "Nessie, stop."_

_That wasn't right. He was gone. I was staring at his broken body._

_"Nessie!"_

_And then my world started to shake. I stopped sobbing long enough to pay attention. The forest I was in was starting to become hazy. That wasn't right. Fog couldn't roll this far into the woods._

_Just as I was realizing this was a dream, the shadowy figure was stepping into the moonlight when my world shook again…_

I flew up off the bed, my arms flailing, my mouth shouting out.

"Nessie! Nessie, baby, it's ok." Jacob's arms managed to pin mine to his chest as he moved, holding me against him. " Shhh, it's ok. I'm right here. It's me. It's Jacob."

He gently rocked me as I panted back into reality.

"Jacob?" I gasped out.

"Yeah, it's me. I got you. It wasn't real. I'm right here with you, where I belong." He stroked his hands up and down my bare back, soothing me.

I ran my hands over his bare chest, one stopping over his heart, feeling it come up to meet my palm as if that was what it was made to do. When I felt that beat was when the tears started. Replacing my hand with my ear, I cried as I listened to the strong beat of his heart and felt the warmth of his skin sink into me. I hadn't realized how cold I was. Now, I was shivering against him while he stroked my back and kissed my hair, rocking me.

"It's ok," he whispered. "I love you, and I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere."

When I calmed down enough, he crawled onto the bed, going around me to his spot all while keeping a hold of me. Lying down on his side, he pulled me to his chest.

"I'm sorry. I only left you for two minutes. I was about to get in the shower. If I'd known the nightmares were back I'd have tucked my shirt next to you. I'm so sorry, baby."

Scooting closer to him so that we were touching full frontal, I stroked his skin. "It's ok. I didn't know they were back either. This was the first one in months."

"Was it the same as your old ones?" he asked softly, still stroking my back.

"Kind of. This one had the cabin in it before it shifted to-," I had to swallow hard and take a deep breath. "To you in the clearing, dead." I buried my face in his chest. "Oh, Jacob, it was so much worse this time around. Now that I know how much in love with you I am-,"

"Shhh, it's ok. I am not going anywhere."

I clutched at him. "Jacob, you remember our promise, right?" I needed him to remember.

Looking me in the eye, he nodded. "I promise to always come back to you, to fight to get back to you. I made that promise then, and I intend to keep it always."

Sighing a breath of relief, I sunk into his body. He was still in his boxers and no shirt. My bare breasts pressed into him. It wasn't sexual now. It was comforting. I needed to be close to him, to feel the life flowing through his body, the heat of him seeping into me.

I felt him reach back toward the bedside table on his side of the bed. "What are you doing?"

"I'm gonna call Seth. We need to get the patrol shifts changed so that I can be there to sleep with you through the night. No more waking up without me."

Shaking my head, I tugged on his arm. "No, Jake. Don't do that. I need to learn to be without you. You have a job to do with the pack. You're their leader and they need you. Revolving your life and plans around me won't keep the peace."

He gave me a look. "Nessie, you have a job with them, too. Or have you forgotten that you're their alpha female? In order for you to be there for them, they need you alert. Therefore you need sleep, and you can't sleep without me beside you. So, I'm going to switch around the shifts, if that's quite alright with you. May I remind you that I am the alpha male. I can go over even your head."

Letting go of his arm, I ground my teeth. "Jerk," I muttered.

Chuckling, he leaned down to press his lips to mine. "Yes and this jerk loves you. Please let me take care of you. You'd do the same for me."

I sighed and he took that as "permission". He kissed me again. "Thank you, sweetie."

Rolling my eyes, I couldn't help but grin. "You're welcome, dear."

When Seth answered the phone and the boys started talking, I snuggled up to Jake's chest and fell into a doze to the sound of his voice.

**JPOV**

As the phone rang, I watched the top of her head worriedly. I don't think she really realized how nasty that nightmare was. Even the sound of the water pounding onto the shower floor wasn't loud enough to drown out the fact that I'd heard her heart stop. I also don't really think she realized how scared shitless I was.

I had to switch the shifts around. There was no way that I was letting Nessie go through this crap again, not without me by her side. Her heart stopping just did not rock my socks.

"Hey, man," he answered sleepily. "What's up? Everything going ok with Leila?"

"Yeah everything's cool, but look, I need you to do me a favor."

There was a rustle and Shelby's voice mumbling sleepily. Leaning up I looked at the clock. Yeah it was only eight-thirty in the morning. Oops.

"I'll be right back, baby," he said to her, sounding far away like he was holding the phone away from his mouth. She mumbled something and then he was back on the phone. "Sure, what's up?"

"Sorry, I forgot how early it was."

The sound of a door closing came through. "It's alright, man. You gonna tell me what favor you need?"

I gently stroked Nessie's bare back as she dozed against my chest. "Yeah, I need you to rearrange the patrol shifts. I'm not supposed to be working this weekend or I'd do it. Nessie made me promise."

"Sure, I'll do it. Any specifics I need to be aware of?"

"Yeah, take me off the early morning shift."

Water ran in the background, but it sounded like the sink not the toilet. "Sure. Wait-why?"

I wanted to groan and roll onto my back, but I didn't. Instead, I just scrubbed my face with my free hand.

"Those nightmares are back again, Seth. This one was bad."

"Tell me."

"Her heart stopped again. And she woke up swinging. Nearly took my eye out."

"Damn. Weren't you sleeping next to her?"

"Yeah, but I woke up early thinking I heard the baby. After I checked on Leila, I went to take a shower. Seth, I hadn't even stepped a foot into the shower before her heart stopped and she started screaming. Scared the hell outta me."

"I bet. Yeah, I'll change the patrol shifts, but you do know that you don't have to run shifts, Jake. There are enough of us. And we understand. You have a lot on your plate already. And I'm not telling you this because you want an out. I'm telling you because it's true. Even the wolves that were in Sam's pack follow you unquestioningly now. You're a good leader and they understand that you have to take care of your mate. And everybody else, too."

I sighed as Nessie cuddled closer to me, mumbling in her sleep. "Yeah, I know. I just feel like I'd be taking advantage of you guys if I do that."

He chuckled. "And that proves my point. You're a good leader who likes to get his hands dirty with his people, but seriously, take some time off. We can handle the patrols without you. It's been a while since you did your sweep of the rez."

"That's true. Ok, man, I'll think about it. Thanks."

"Not a problem. Get back to your woman."

That made me chuckle. "You do the same or she'll have my head for taking you away from her."

"Amen to that." There was definitely a smile on his face.

We hung up and all was quiet. Stretching up a little, I could see that Leila was still fast asleep. She'd be up and wailing soon though. Usually around nine or nine-thirty. She was like Sam and the rest of the wolves, always hungry.

"Mmm, go take your shower, Jake. I'll get up and get breakfast going," Nessie mumbled against my chest, her breath warm on my skin.

"We have at least another thirty minutes before the munchkin wakes up. Why don't you sleep?"

She shook her head and lifted up onto one elbow. Her bare breasts rubbed over me and I had to hold back a shiver. It wasn't hard because I was still worried about her.

She stroked her hand up over my chest and shoulder. "It's ok, Jake. I'm awake now."

"You sure?"

She did seem to look as if she'd gotten more rest in her five minute nap. The circles under her eyes weren't as deep and dark.

"Yeah, I'm good. I mean it was only for those few minutes that you weren't near me, right?"

I nodded, brushing her hair back away from her face.

She smiled and leaned into my hand. "Then I had all night to get some rest. I'm ok."

Shaking my head, I gave her a look. "No, you're not. It's not normal for people's hearts to stop in a nightmare, Nessie. Don't you get it? I can't lose you."

There must have been some intensity in my eyes and voice because her eyes softened. Leaning in, she pressed her lips to mine. Morning breath be damned, I needed her. She wrapped her arms around my shoulders as I deepened the kiss and pulled me down on top of her so that she was lying back on the bed. Her nails went into my scalp and I made that noise that she loved so much.

I did have a goal in mind when I'd deepened the kiss so I broke away from her lips and traveled over her jaw and down her neck. She moaned a little, and I caught her teeth biting down on her bottom lip. That just spurred me on because it was so sexy. Every other time I'd thought it was cute, but right now, in this moment, it was sexy. Her eyes were closed, that lip between her teeth, her breasts pressed to my chest, and her fingers digging into my hair.

Seeing her lost in the feeling just made me want to give her what she wanted, but I didn't. Instead, I savagely beat back my raging hormones and told them to shut up while I kissed my way down her chest to the spot over her heart.

"Nessie," I whispered.

"Hmmm?"

"I need this to keep beating," I said, looking up at her face. She opened her eyes to meet mine.

Catching my meaning, she nodded.

And I placed my lips back over her. Over the months that we'd been keeping up with the marks, they started staying around longer. There wasn't really any need to go back over hers, but I wanted to do it, to make a point. So gently, I sucked her skin between my teeth, softly working it against my tongue and lips.

"Jacob," she moaned softly, digging her nails into my hair. Her chest heaved with her panting breaths, rubbing her breasts against my chest and neck.

I growled against her skin, trying not to bite down too hard. I didn't want to hurt her. But I did bite down just a bit harder and her back bowed up off the bed. I'd promised myself not to take things too far, but I needed to taste her again. Still growling deep in my chest, I moved down just a few inches to wrap my lips around her breast, my tongue playing over and around her nipple. Her eyes were still closed so she hadn't seen me and her hips bucked up into my lower stomach. And kept them there. Her center was pressed to me with only her panties separating us so that I could feel the heat coming from her. That heat scorched me as I hardened below my waist.

This could escalate quickly.

Luckily, Leila woke up. Nessie's hips lowered back to the bed as I laughed into her chest. As one entity we fell back onto the bed with me on top of her. Her legs opened for me to lie between them and her hands stroked my hair as I pressed my face between the twin pillows of her breasts.

Gently, I kissed the swell in front of me. "I can't believe I was so nervous about these," I said.

And that made her laugh. She laughed and laughed until she cried. It was infectious. I started laughing, too, burying my face into her skin, and taking in the comforting smell of her. She smelled like home.

"Oh, Jacob. I love you. Didn't I tell you to just go with the flow?"

"I know, I know. You're always right."

She stroked my neck and shoulders. "Mhm, you should remember that." I felt her bend over me and place a kiss to the top of my head. "Come on, we gotta get Leila before she gets worse. And you need a shower."

Slowly, I propped myself up on my arms to stare down at her. She'd kept her arms wrapped around my shoulders and I had a clear view of her. I seriously couldn't believe that I'd been nervous about seeing her like this. It felt so natural, and she was so beautiful that I still couldn't believe that I'd lucked out this much.

And looking at her this way took me into the future in a way. I could so see us waking up like this, both of us wearing only the sheets with me propped over her. A passionate morning in bed, making love all day. I had no idea what it would feel like to make love to her, but I bet it would be unlike anything I'd ever felt.

Leaning down, I pressed my lips to hers. "I love you, Nessie. I'm really glad fate gave you to me."

She smiled at me. "I can't believe I got you. You're the most perfect man in the world."

I shook my head. "I'm pretty sure you're exaggerating, but I do know that you're perfect. Beyond perfect."

She giggled. "There's no such thing."

As she leaned up to kiss me, Leila gave another loud wail, pulling us apart.

Nessie sighed. "Time to get up."

One last kiss and I pulled away. I went to the closet to grab the robe and tossed it to her. She grinned, thanking me as she got out of bed. Standing in the doorway of the bathroom, I watched her, the way her body swayed as she moved, her hips and breasts moving sensuously. And that ass of hers as she bent down to get her bra off the floor.

_Damn_. My body reacted and I knew it was time to get in the shower.

Cranking the water as hot as it would go, I stripped off the boxers somewhat delicately since I was a bit sensitive. But as soon as I stepped in, I hissed. _A bit_ sensitive was an understatement. That woman was dangerous to my health. And I felt like a creep because I knew that now that I'd taken another step to getting her completely naked, I had to get rid of this pressure or it would just build as I thought of her like that. Because, up here, away from Edward, I didn't have to control my thoughts. And my body could rampage out of control.

Without really thinking about it, my hand moved down my chest, stomach, and lower stomach. I actually fought with myself before I lost the battle with the need. I hadn't lied to Nessie when I'd told her that I wanted to stop doing this so much, but this was one time I had to in order to keep me sane. With a defeated sigh, I gripped myself and groaned.

_Good god! _How the hell did she do this to me? All I had to do was think about her underneath me, her breasts bare to my sight, and my stomach tightened to the point of pain. There was no being gentle with myself. I moved my hand back and forth quickly, my breathing picking up. Bracing an arm against the shower wall, I panted and picked up the speed, my grip tightening.

And then the image of her this morning, lost in the feeling, her lip between her teeth and her eyes closed came to me. In a huge rush, I spasmed hard as the release jerked in my hand, my stomach tightening. It went on for longer than it ever had before, probably because that image of her kept coming to my mind. I gritted my teeth so that I wouldn't shout like I wanted to. I slumped, my muscles going slack, as the pulses died down. My breathing was broken and panting at the same time.

When all was said and done, I practically had to peel my hand off myself. And I was so sensitive that I actually whimpered when the water hit me. My knuckles cracked as I spread out my hand. Geez, how hard was I gripping?

Trying to be easy, I quickly washed my body and scrubbed some soap into my hair. I also made sure to clean up the shower a little. This time had been a little rough. Now that I was done with that and more relaxed, I also felt a bit skeezy. I mean, I was able to jerk myself off but I couldn't make love to girl of my dreams? Seriously?

Shaking my head, I dried myself off, being careful below the waist. Wrapping the towel over my hips, I made my way through the room to the closet on the other side. But I didn't have to. Nessie had laid out some clothes for me before going up to Leila. It was my usual tattered jeans and a white ribbed tank. I was surprised she hadn't left boxers out. But she knew me. Unless I had to dress up, I'd just as soon go commando. Clothes were too constricting.

"Come on, sweetness. Let's go get you fed," I heard from across the bed. Nessie had slipped into the deep purple robe that I'd tossed her and had gone to get Leila. From the screen on the monitor, I could see the baby sitting on Nessie's hip. Her face was in a pout as if she were about to start crying again. Nessie reached up and did something over her mouth. When she pulled away I saw that she'd given Leila her pacifier.

I sighed. Man, seeing her with a baby made me want to see her with my child. I wanted to see her with a child on her hip and her belly swollen with another.

Her dream was becoming mine. And I had a feeling we'd be getting there soon enough.

**Shelby POV**

Seth was wrapped around me, his hands over my stomach, his stomach pressed into my back. I knew he was awake because he pressed a kiss to my shoulder. Tilting my head, my eyes met his.

"Good morning, baby," he whispered.

"Morning," I said with a sleepy smile.

Stretching, I arched my hips back into him, making him growl. In retaliation, he moved his hands over my body, touching every part of me. But when he hit my breasts, I hissed.

"Ow."

"What?" he demanded, instantly alert. "Did I hurt you?"

I shook my head. "No. I'm just sensitive for some reason."

"Hmm." He pressed another kiss to my shoulder. "Isn't that a side effect of-?"

Thinking about it, I nodded. "Yeah, but it could also mean my period."

"You haven't had any cramps, though."

Damn. He was right. I always got cramps at least a week before my period, but I'd never had breast pain before. His hands found my stomach again. And my hands found his. I was utterly terrified of what could be under our hands. But at the same time, I was seriously thinking about what Nessie and Seth had told me about not being my mother. They were right. The reason I was so terrified was that I was already in love with the _possibility_ of carrying Seth's baby. Already in love with something that may or may not exist. But I did want it. A little Seth running around? I could totally handle that.

But if I was pregnant, I'd have to go see my dad. There was just no way that I could have a baby, his grandchild, and him not know about it. Hell, maybe he'd cleaned himself up. But one thing was for sure: he hadn't come looking for me. He knew damn well where I was, and yet I hadn't heard one peep out of him.

"You ok?" Seth asked quietly, bringing me out of my own head.

I nodded and smiled. "Yeah. I was just thinking about the possibility."

"I've been thinking about it, too."

"Really?" I asked as I rolled over onto my back.

He went up onto one elbow so that he could look down at me and brush my short hair out of my eyes. Rosalie had been cutting it for me so that I wouldn't have to pay for it. Even though the Cullens had given me a credit card, I had yet to use it. It made me squeegy just to know that I had it.

"Mhm."

"What have you been thinking about?"

Leaning forward, he pressed a kiss to my forehead. "That if we are pregnant, we're going to need a place of our own. We can't ask the Cullens to house our family."

I stroked his face and neck. "I thought you were saving your money for something else?"

He shrugged. "Not really. I have what I want, what I need."

We smiled at each other at the same time.

"So what did Jake need this morning?"

Sighing, he flopped onto his back and slid an arm under me to bring me against his side. I laid my head on his chest.

"Nessie had another nightmare this morning when Jake went to take a shower. Scared the hell out of him when her heart stopped."

I leaned up on my elbow. "What? Is she ok?"

"Yeah, he managed to wake her up before she took one of his eyes out. But he wanted me to switch around the patrol shifts so that he could sleep with her throughout the morning. I got him to quit altogether so he could take care of more important business since there are enough of us to do patrols."

"What else does he have to do?"

Seth reached over to grip my thigh. He brought it up to rest it across his hips, my center pressed to his thigh. I shivered making him chuckle. But all he did was stroke his hand up and down my leg, more of a comforting gesture.

"He's got to go down to the rez and talk to people. He usually does it about once every two weeks to make sure that everybody's ok. That started after Christa joined the pack and he found out how badly she'd been abused." His other hand stroked my back and side, occasionally brushing against the side of my breast. "He's also gotta take care of Nessie. They need time together to get closer."

I nodded. "Ain't that the truth. I could feel the sexual tension through the f'n wall."

Seth laughed. "That's partially why Emily picked this weekend to give them Leila. She knew they'd take her up to the cabin so that she wouldn't interrupt us here at the house. They could spend time together when she was down for the count at nap time."

A sudden thought hit me. It was bright and happy…and the solution. I slapped Seth's chest excitedly. He winced and put his hand over the spot. Oops. I was stronger now than I was when I was a human.

I grinned. "Sorry, but I just got an idea."

"What? Tell me before you beat me to death."

Moving his hand, I kissed the spot that was red. Ok, I felt bad about that one. "I'm sorry, baby."

He stroked my face. "It's ok. Just tell me this grand idea."

"Are you listening, Edward?" I yelled. The piano started a moment later. Of course, he already knew what I was thinking. I turned back to Seth with a grin. "The cabin. That's it."

He arched a brow. "Huh?"

A moment later, the door to the room burst open. Seth jumped and grabbed the sheets to cover us up. We turned to find Alice standing in the doorway, grinning like an evil pixie.

"You are a genius!" she squealed. "Oh, and sorry for interrupting."

After I got my heart swallowed back into my chest, I grinned. "So you like it?"

"Me? I love it! Edward, though? Not too fond of it."

"Fond of what?" came another voice from behind Alice.

Bella stepped around her sister-in-law so that she could see us. Seth scowled, muttering something about a private room and place of our own. I smiled and gently smacked him. He glared at me and rubbed his chest again where I hit him a few minutes ago.

"Why don't we give Jacob and Nessie one of the cabins? I mean, we're all dying from the sexual tension pouring off them. And they're most comfortable with each other when they're up at the cabin. Every time they come back, they're calmer."

When Edward appeared behind Bella, Seth reached down for the comforter and pulled it up to my neck. I shot him a glare and pulled my arms out.

"They haven't gotten married yet. I am not ok with that," Edward said.

I gave him a look. "And yet you're perfectly ok that they sleep in the same bed, pressed against each other every night _and_ that they give each other massive hickies to show off to everybody. Right. 'Cause that makes a hell of a lot of sense."

Bella reached back and patted his arm. "She has a point, love."

"Come on, it's perfect. We're all dying for them to get it on, or at least get some release with each other-,"

Edward clapped his hands over his ears. "I am not hearing this. I'm not hearing this. I am _not_hearing this."

I rolled my eyes. "It would be the perfect engagement present. And it would be romantic to give them the one that they got together in that night. Not to mention that it's safe and away from him," I said pointing at Edward. "It's just out of his 'hearing' range but close enough to get to them quickly if you need to. And they're comfy with each other there. Jacob can't make love to Edward's daughter in Edward's old room near Edward's wife whom Jacob once confessed to loving. That's just too weird. And it's Jacob with all the hang-ups whether they're married or not."

"She's got lots of valid points, Edward," Alice said. Then she grinned. "What happened to throwing in that white towel to Jacob?"

He gnashed his teeth together, but his eyes took all four of us in. Finally, he let out a defeated sigh.

"Fine. I suppose she has to leave the nest eventually."

All us women grinned at each other and Seth squeezed my waist.

"Edward," Bella said comfortingly. "We've talked about this. It's hard for both of us but we know that Jacob will take care of her and do right by her. Plus, they'd be making their nest just next door to ours. We'd still be together. It's not like she'd be moving away across the country."

He sighed and nodded. "I already said ok. I'll stand by it. It's just that she's my little girl."

"Yeah, but she's Jacob's woman, soon-to-be wife," I said with a shrug. "There's a line that's drawn now."

Edward took a deep breath and nodded. "Well, I suppose we should get to planning _that_ surprise."

"Shelby, get up out of that bed. I plan to keep you busy until they come home tomorrow and you can take your test," Alice said with a big grin.

I had a strange feeling that Nessie's wedding and present weren't the only things she was planning as she glanced down toward my stomach.

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**Yay! I loved writing Shelby's POV only because I love her so much. Anywhozzle, you all know that your reviews are like crack for me even though I've never done drugs in my life. They just make me happy. :D Luv you guys! xoxoxoxoxoxo**


	4. Chapter 4

**HI! Sorry, I'm late to the party...again. Whew. Sorry. I think I already said this but I've been re-reading my favorite series before the new book comes out in March and I got a little distracted. But anywho, here I am with an update. I'll try to regulate my updates like I did for TFT. And I gave you guys a treat in this chapter. It's at the end so don't skip down. *Hint* New POV.**

***Disclaimer about not owning the Twilight world here***

**Please Enjoy!**

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**RPOV**

After Jacob had gone into the bathroom, I'd quickly put on my bra and threw the robe on as I raced up the stairs. Leila wasn't a happy camper. I'd changed her and put her in her day clothes, then grabbed a food towel and a bib. The pacifier had calmed her down enough for me to get a bottle warmed up for her.

Before I'd sat down to feed her, I'd managed to get all the ingredients out for waffles. And I'd plugged in the waffle maker. So I sat down and laid Leila across my arm, holding her bottle up. One of her hands reached up to tangle in my hair, rubbing it between her tiny fingers while she watched me.

As she ate, I thought about Jacob and the dream. Where the hell had it come from? It just came out of nowhere to kick me in the ass. And the intensity of it. But I suppose that made sense. My relationship with Jacob had intensified significantly since that dilapidated cabin went up in flames. So seeing Jacob in the woods with his throat ripped out would affect me even worse than it had before.

I sighed. Jacob was right. I couldn't sleep without him. Even though sleeping with just his shirt had worked last year, I really didn't think it would again, not now with how far we'd gotten into our relationship. Not to mention that we really hadn't gotten to spend much time together recently. I'd dived into helping plan the wedding and helping Emily with Leila. Jacob had thrown himself into building up the pack and the rez, and also running patrols. When he would come home, I was either out or deep into planning, so he would sleep the rest of the day. He'd also been spending a lot of time talking to Caden about the other wolves and Tristan. I didn't like to be a part of those conversations so I opted out to go read a book or watch a movie.

Caught up in my thoughts, I didn't see Jacob's shadow fall over the table before his hands came down on my shoulders, massaging them. Craning my head back, I smiled at him.

"Feel better?" I asked.

He nodded and smiled back. "Yeah. You want me to take her? I think she's done with that bottle."

Looking down, I saw that he was right. The bottle was empty even though she was still sucking on it. I took the bottle out to replace it with the pacifier. Those pretty brown eyes darted up over my head and she grinned through the obstacle in her mouth. She reached up just as Jacob reached down for her.

"Oh, now you like me. Wait five minutes, that'll change," he said, nibbling on her chubby neck.

After I washed her bottle, I started on our breakfast. Jacob took Leila into the living room and set up the play pen, but she was too energetic now, so he sat down on the floor with her so she could scoot around on the hardwood. It was cute to watch how he followed her around, making sure that she didn't get too close to the fireplace. But her favorite place seemed to be beside him. She played and gummed on his hands, slobbering all over him.

Laughing, I went back to making breakfast.

"That's disgusting, honey. You have no idea where I've been," he said teasingly in a baby voice.

She gurgled in response.

Thirty minutes later, our breakfast was ready. Jacob had burped Leila, and then put her in the play pen. She was currently performing with the rattle that he'd given her. I narrowed my eyes at him as he shrugged with a grin.

"So," he said after he swallowed a giant bite of waffle. "What do you want to do today?"

"Absolutely nothing," I replied dipping my bacon into some syrup. Sounded gross but it was so delicious.

He grinned. "Sounds amazing to me."

And so, that's what we did all day Saturday: nothing. I took a shower after breakfast and washing the dishes, and then put on some cozy clothes. But after that, I put my hair up in a messy knot, sat down on the couch, and watched Jacob play with Leila. Every now and then he'd give me a look that said he couldn't wait to be doing that with our own kids. I knew my answering look was just as intense.

When naptime came, Jacob and I cuddled up on the couch in front of the fire. Neither one of us had opened the drapes to let the grey day inside. It was nice to be cut off from the outside world even if we were out in the middle of the woods.

He had his arm wrapped around me and I was sitting in the curve of his body, my head on his chest. It was quiet with the only sound being the fire crackling. Jacob's fingers played in the small curls at the base of my neck while I stroked his chest and stomach.

And it was as we were sitting there that I realized we were comfortable. With each other and ourselves. Every time we sat like this or got close at the big house, there was always a tension there between us, in my body and his. But here? We were ok. We were a normal couple. It was nice to be able to touch him and love on him without praying that my dad wouldn't walk in.

As I stared into the fire with my thoughts, I saw his hand move in front of my face and slide over my jaw so that I could meet his eyes. I smiled questioningly. He just stared at me with love and lust. He was probably thinking the same thing I was. That it was just relaxing to be free of all the tension.

"I love you," he whispered.

I grinned. "I love you, too."

When he brought his lips to mine, there was no rush. It was a soft and gentle kiss, slow and unhurried. There was also no raging lust that told us we had to be attached at the lips right this second. Neither one of us tried to move to make the moment steamier. It was just a really great make-out session that didn't turn in to more. He kept his lips on mine, and I kept mine on his, just enjoying the taste of each other.

And of course, to ruin everything, there was a knock at the front door. Sighing, Jacob leaned back.

"Of course. The patrols."

I touched his face. "Jacob, you promised no work."

"I know. But I told Seth to tell everybody to check in with me." He stroked his thumb over my lip. "Nessie, I gotta be sure. It'll only take a second."

He was up and off the couch before I could say another word. But he was right. He had to be kept in the loop. He opened the door to reveal Morgan. She was, hands down, the most gorgeous woman I'd ever seen. And I wasn't the only one. A lot of men chased her. Sometimes she gave in to them, but I knew she didn't really love men a whole lot. The only man that I'd ever seen her not disrespect was Jacob. And over the past couple months she'd softened around the baby. She pretended that Leila didn't affect her, but we all saw it.

Her mane of curls was thick and glossy as they flowed down her back. Those pale eyes took in every detail around her. Her slender body was lean and curvy but very strong. She had the same type of figure that I did, but she probably had tons more muscle under her bronze skin.

Her eyes found me on the couch. I waved.

"Hey, Nessie," she said. Her voice wasn't as deep as people would think it was by looking at her, and it was soft. But sometimes that softness was terrifying when a guy was bothering her.

I smiled. "Hey, Morgan. How goes everything?"

She looked between me and Jake. "We're good. No weird scents or anything. But Seth said you'd still want us to stop by." She shrugged. "So here I am."

Jacob nodded.

"And he also said that you weren't patrolling anymore. May I ask why?" Her voice was formal. It always was when she spoke to Jacob.

As Jacob ran a hand through his hair, I raised my hand. "That's my fault." When she turned to me with an eyebrow raised, I smiled sheepishly. "My nightmares came back this morning and he freaked out."

Those impossibly light eyes became alert, and she looked at Jacob. "Take care of our alpha female. The last time those nightmares happened we lost one of our own. I'll tell the others to sharpen up just in case."

I slid off the couch and wrapped my arms around myself. The air that came through the door was cool. "You don't have to do that. You guys are already sharp enough. Don't overdo it."

Morgan walked into the cabin, shut the door, and came to me. Going down onto her knees, she took my hands in hers, surprising the hell out of me.

"Your safety means Jacob's sanity. If we lose you, we lose him. Our pack can't survive without the two of you. And I know that I will protect you with my life should it come to that."

My eyes filled with tears and I had to swallow hard a couple times. "Why? I managed to whisper.

Smiling, she rubbed her cheek over my hand. "Because you take such good care of us. Adam and Derek were so scared for so long, hiding their feelings to the point of denial. And Christa? She wouldn't be half as tough if she didn't know that we all had her back, if she hadn't known how Jacob would react to her abuse. People knew before she first phased, but never did anything about it. But once Jacob knew, he took action immediately. And you were so gentle with her. Thank you."

"She means a lot to you, doesn't she?" Jacob asked as he walked over to us, placing his hand on her shoulder. She purred a little at the touch.

"She was my best friend before her dad told her that she couldn't be around me. Apparently, I was a bad influence because I encouraged her to stand up for herself. He didn't like that she was becoming stronger-willed."

The lightbulb in my head flickered to life. "That's why you don't really like men. Her father pissed you off."

She sat her butt on her heels but kept my hands in hers. "I don't really like men anyway. They think that they own us." Her eyes flicked to Jacob. "Except Jake and Seth. They're good to you and Shelby. And Caden with Leah. But that's because of the imprint. Other couples with normal relationships don't have that happy ever after the way you guys do."

I took one of my hands back and stroked her hair. "It's ok, now, Morgan. Christa is safe now. You don't always have to be so tough. There's someone for everyone."

She chuckled, wiped her eyes, and got to her feet. "Not for me. I'm too messed up, but I think I'll be ok as long as the people I love are ok."

"You're not messed up, Morgan," Jacob said. "You just have extremely high standards. But there will be someone who will meet them."

"You think so?"

He nodded. "I know so."

She smiled at us for a moment before she got serious. "Seth's right. You should take off patrols. Take care of her."

"If she'll let me," he mumbled.

I glared at him.

Morgan turned to me. "Let him take care of you. You really don't know how good you have it that someone wants to be there for you."

Before I could say anything, she kissed my hand gently, hugged Jacob, and left. I just stared at the door. That was probably the one and only time that we'd ever see that softer side of her.

**JPOV**

Man, that had been one hell of an eye-opener. I hadn't known that Morgan and Christa had been best friends. It didn't seem like they were the kind to be friends. And neither one of them thought about it when we were phased. It was almost as if their friendship had never happened. But I guess the strain between them explained why one would leave the room if the other walked in.

Scrubbing my hand over my face, I didn't see Nessie as she came up to wrap her arms around my waist. But I slid my hands down her back and held on to her hips as she snuggled up to me.

"Did you know about any of that?" she asked as I rocked her.

I shook my head even though she couldn't see it. "I never knew they were friends."

"I wonder why they haven't started hanging out again now that the threat to their friendship is gone."

Stroking her back, I thought about it and came up with nothing. "I don't know. That's a mystery."

For a while, we stood there, holding on to each other, enjoying the peace of not being rushed or hurried. Reaching over to the bookshelf beside the door, I grabbed the remote to the stereo and turned it on. The volume was already low. I threw the remote onto the couch and gripped Nessie tighter to me. She laughed a throaty laugh as I started swaying us back and forth.

Her arms came up to wrap around my shoulders and neck, and I pressed my face into her neck and shoulder. We swayed back and forth in front of the fire, her socks sliding on the hardwood floor as we held on to each other.

Seriously, though, I kept asking myself how the hell I got so lucky with her. How did my previously miserable life end up being this great, this amazing? I mean, I knew that I imprinted on her and that was a big part of our connection, but why was she in love with me? What was so great about me? I'd tried to ruin what was between her parents. I'd been so selfish that I'd taken my anger out on everyone else, caused them pain, and didn't care. Hell, I'd still never really apologized for any of that.

"Jacob?" Nessie said. She stroked my neck and hair. "Jacob, what's wrong?"

I smiled into her hair. She couldn't read my thoughts and I knew she hadn't seen my expression. She knew my body and had felt the tension. Kissing the side of her neck, I took a deep breath to ease my muscles and the tension there. My hands stroked up her back, fingers playing in her hair.

"Nothing, sweetheart. I'm fine."

"And you're lying to me."

I pulled back so that I could look into her chocolate brown eyes. My hands traveled up her back, over her shoulders, and up her neck, my thumbs playing over her jaw line and cheeks.

"I'm just still so amazed," I whispered.

"At what?" Her arms moved down to wrap around my waist and held on tight.

Leaning in, I gently brushed my lips over hers. "That fate thought I deserved something as wonderful as you. I just don't think I agree even though I won't argue with that decision."

Her eyes turned angry. "Jacob Black, what the hell brought this on?"

My thumbs kept up their steady pace on her jaw. "I was just thinking about you, about us and Morgan and Christa, Derek and Adam."

She shook her head. "Jacob, I don't understand."

"I got so lucky with you. And I don't know how. You could have hated my guts. That's what should have happened. You should have hated me, and I should have spent my life trying to be better, be everything that I used to be before." I shook my head again. "I don't know how you ever forgave me for not telling you about imprinting, or how you could not blame me for not protecting you back in that cabin."

It was her turn to put her hands on my face. I felt her jaw clench under my thumbs. "Listen. To. Me." Her voice was stern and yet oddly gentle. "The reason you didn't tell me about imprinting was because you were confused. I understand that now. I'm so much different than a human imprint would be. And for so long, you were human, always changing, until you froze. And that whole cabin deal was _not_ your fault. I know we've had that conversation before, Jacob. And I need you to remember what I told you then, because it's the same as I would tell you now."

We stared at each other for a moment, before she shook my neck again. "And I never _ever_ want to hear you say that you are undeserving. If anything, _I_ am undeserving. I've really never suffered a hardship, not until a few months ago. You suffered so much, had so much heartbreak in your life. You lost your mother when you were young. You lost my mother to my father, not knowing that your love for her was because of me. I don't blame you for that." Her eyes roamed my face and her teeth took in her bottom lip. "I hurt you so bad by turning you out. And I was so stupid going into the woods alone, knowing that I was supposed to be going to you. If you love me as much as you say you do, then I could have broken your heart that night had some serious damage been done." Her eyes met mine again. "So, it's not you who got lucky. It was me. You are the very best thing that has happened to me. You were my best friend and now you're going to be my husband. After that, hopefully, you'll be my lover."

I grinned at her, pulling her close. Our lips had barely touched when a small cry came to us from upstairs. Nessie pressed her lips to mine and stared into my eyes for a long moment before she took off for the baby. Still thinking about what she'd just said, I went into the kitchen to fix up some left-over lasagna. Nessie would be bringing Leila back down here to feed her, and I knew that she'd be hungry, too. After we'd put Leila down, we'd both just cuddled up on the couch to sink into the quiet.

In a way, I guess Nessie had been right. But I still didn't feel as if I deserved her. I could see her point about the cabin, I guess. And maybe the imprinting. And it had all worked out in the end, though I knew things weren't over with that other pack.

But now, I had more hope that maybe we would get through it all.

**ShelbyPOV**

I was on my tenth circuit around the living room before Seth jumped off the couch and demanded that I quit driving him nuts. Tomorrow afternoon just couldn't come fast enough. I needed to know, but I wanted Nessie with me. And I knew Seth wanted Jacob to be there when we found out.

"Shelby, calm down. I want to know so badly, too. I mean, why work yourself up? What's going to happen if we are pregnant other than that we know for sure?"

He was right, but I couldn't help but worry. "Will you help me, Seth?"

"With what?"

I turned in his arms and hugged him around the waist. "Will you help me be a good mom? Help me not be so scared?"

He put his fingers under my chin and made me look at him. "I promised you that I won't leave you. I will never leave you no matter what happens. You're mine. And I'm yours. That's all there is to it. I don't have to help you be a good mom. If we are pregnant, I already know that you will be because you know what it's like to have someone walk out on you. You'd never do that to anyone, especially your own child."

I fiddled with the collar of his shirt. "You know we're going to have to see my dad, right?"

His face tightened. "And why would we have to do that?"

"Seth, I can't have a baby and him not know. I just can't do that."

He sighed. "Fine, but I go with you." He turned to the other couch in the living room. "Would you come with us, Caden? I'd like some back-up."

I looked around Seth's body to see Leah and Caden cuddled up. He was playing with her fingers.

He looked up at us, shrugging. "Sure. I wouldn't mind."

"Why him?" Leah asked. "Why not Jake?"

Seth smiled, and it made me shiver at how not pleasant it was. "Because he's more dangerous. There's just something about him that screams danger. Jacob isn't like that unless you get him riled up. I need menace as soon as we walk in the door so her dad backs off. I have to play the I'll-attempt-to-get-along-with-you son-in-law."

"Son-in-law?" I asked, smirking up at him.

He turned to me with a grin. "Hey, technically, we're mated. Weddings are more for humans and whatnot. I haven't been totally human in a while, Shelbs. And with a lot of the guys mating, we've turned more into our alter ego's instinctual natures. And of course, the female wolves like to give us their pieces of mind."

I patted his chest. "We just like to keep our men in line."

"Damn straight," Leah said, grinning up at Caden.

He grinned back at her, but then looked back up at Seth. "Yeah, I'll go. No man will raise his hand to a female around me unless he's not all that attached to that hand."

I chill shot down my spine at the look that flared in his eyes. Man, he could be super scary sometimes.

"Alright, enough with all this emotional, heavy crap," Alice said, clapping her hands as she came into the living room. She was positively glowing.

"What's up, Alice?" Seth asked.

She rolled her eyes. "I need to borrow your girlfriend."

His eyes narrowed and those hands tightened on my waist. "Why?"

Those dainty lips pursed and her eyes narrowed. "Planning, Seth. We have planning to do, because as soon as Jake and Nessie get back from the cabin, we need to get up there to fix it up. It might take few days, maybe a couple weeks to get it the way we want it."

"Wait," I said, holding my hand out in a slow-your-roll type of gesture. "Are you wanting to make over the place?"

"Maybe. Edward was describing some of her dreams to me, though the descriptions were through clenched teeth." She shrugged. "Anyway, I know that the master bedroom needs an update. And we should put in a security system."

"Well, we can't change the whole place, Alice. Otherwise it won't be their cabin, if you catch my meaning."

I kissed Seth and then stepped out of his arms to walk into the dining room. I heard his sigh as Alice followed me. She already had her planning stuff out and Rosalie was going through some home decorating books.

Glancing over my shoulder, I blew Seth a kiss. "Go do your planning for pack stuff while I do mine. We can meet up later, ok?"

He nodded.

"Love you," I said.

He grinned. "Love you, too."

When he headed for the front door, I turned back to the girls and clapped my hands. "Let's get this present wrapped, shall we?"

**SethPOV**

As I closed the door quietly behind me, I sighed. Something was still bothering Shelby. How could she possibly think that she was anything like her mother? I mean, sure, I'd never met the woman, but I knew that Shelby could never leave a child that had her blood running through its veins.

And I hadn't lied to her when I'd told her that I'd been thinking about the possibility. Was I scared of being a father? Hell, yeah. But I was more excited. And more because it would be Shelby's child more than I would be the father, but that was close second. Me, a father. Man, that cranked me up. It seemed like it was all happening so fast, and it actually was, but it also seemed so right. If Shelby was pregnant-man, that word-then we'd have to move out of the Cullen house. Sure, I knew they didn't sleep, but I knew that our baby wouldn't be like Nessie had been. Our baby would be like Leila: normal. We'd need a place of our own.

Years and years of working in the shop with Jake and Paul, and my inheritance from Dad, I could afford a home. But living on the rez wasn't good enough for Shelby. I wanted her home to be brand new, built solely for her.

I sighed again. I could afford that, too. But it would take too long to get something built.

"We'd help you if you'd let us," came a voice behind me.

I whirled around to find Edward leaning against the side of the house, his arms crossed over his chest. That smirk of his was firmly in place.

"Geez, Edward. You scared the crap out of me."

"I know."

"But you know that I can't let you do anything else for us. You already let us live with you."

He shook his head and chuckled. "You don't get it, Seth. You and Shelby are family. We Cullens take care of our own." His expression turned serious. "And you and I both know that the possibility of pregnancy is higher than fifty-fifty."

I cringed. "You're not about to get all fatherly on me, are you?"

"Seth, let us help you. Let us give you a gift."

My eyes widened as I caught his meaning. Frantically, I shook my head. "No, Edward. You can't do that."

"Yes, we can. We're building that other cabin. It's going to take at least another month to finish it. Not to mention that I've been digging into her head when they plan. I know what she wants."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "You've been planning that cabin for us all along, haven't you?"

He shrugged with that indecipherable smirk again. "Perhaps. If Jacob and my daughter are in their nesting phase, then you are, too. Especially with a baby on the way."

"We don't know for sure."

He pegged me with a level stare, telling me that we were just lying to ourselves. We knew, but we needed a test to be sure.

I shifted on my feet, feeling like a five year old who got caught fibbing.

Edward turned for the house. "I'll tell Alice to start planning for Shelby's baby shower present."

"Edward-,"

He turned with a gentle look. "Yeah?"

"Thank you."

"Anything for family." And then he was gone into the house.

Staring at the door for another couple minutes, I raked my hand through my hair and blew out a tense breath. Even if I'd said no, he'd have gone over my head to tell Shelby.

And Shelby may have accepted the gift. But knowing how she felt about the credit card, maybe not.

Shaking my head, the clouds opened up and dumped a shower onto Forks. Sighing again, I took off for Charlie's house. A visit to my mom had been in the works for a while, but I'd kept having to take over shifts for some of the married wolves that had families. Maybe soon, I'd be among those wolves. A mate and a baby waiting for me when I got home, needing me when they were sick, or just plain wanting me to stay home with them.

I smiled as I ran through the rain. Yeah, a family would be nice to come home to at the end of the day.

In no time at all, I was knocking on Charlie's door. Mom answered it and smiled when she saw me.

When she stepped forward to hug me, I kind of stepped back. "Sorry. I don't want to get you wet."

Her hands went to her hips as her lips pursed. She reminded me of Leah. "Seth Clearwater, you are my son. And I want a hug from my son, so hug me."

Sighing, I held out my arms and she flew into them.

"It's been a while since we've seen you," she said against my chest.

I hugged her hard, smelling lavender, her signature scent. "I know, Mom. Sorry. We've been a little preoccupied up at the Cullen house."

"Hey, Seth. What's up, kid?" Charlie said as he came out of the kitchen. We shook hands even with my mom still wrapped around me.

"Nothing much. Shelby's busy planning stuff so I thought I'd come hang out with you guys if you don't mind some company."

"Not at all. Your mom was just fixing up some lunch. Pull up a chair."

"Thanks."

Finally, Mom let me go but held on to my hand as we all trooped into the kitchen. The stuff to make B.L.T.s was laid out across the counter as well as a few bags of chips.

"So how is everyone?"

I sat down at the table after grabbing a coke out of the fridge. "We're all good. Leila's getting bigger. She's up at the cabin with Nessie and Jake. Emily and Sam needed a weekend to themselves. The Cullens decided to give them the cabin for an engagement present."

Charlie nearly choked on the beer he'd opened. "What? Edward's allowing that?"

I chuckled. "Uh, Charlie, I hate to be the messenger, but they already sleep in the same bed. They've always shared a bed."

"What?!"

Choking on my own coke, I snorted it through my nose. After I wiped my face, I swallowed and said, "In Jake's defense, she has nightmares when he's not with her. And they're bad, Charlie. They make her heart stop. She had one just this morning. Scared the hell outta Jake."

Charlie took a deep breath, but I knew I'd made a mistake in telling him that. Edward and Bella would be getting a call after I left.

Mom gave Charlie a look but placed her hand over mine. "How's Shelby?" she asked.

I knew the expression on my face softened. "She's good, Mom. But-uh-," I shifted and cleared my throat. "Edward's also talking about letting us have the other cabin they're building."

"Why?" she asked suspiciously.

Did I really want to tell her that she more than likely will be a grandmother in under nine months? Well, I guess I should warn her.

"Seth Clearwater." Her tone was a demand.

I sighed. "Shelby and I, well, we-uh," I cleared my throat again. "We might, possibly, maybe be pregnant."

Both Mom and Charlie just blinked at me. I was seriously waiting for the marriage first lecture, but it didn't come. After a couple heartbeats, Mom's face broke into a wide grin. It was so wide that I thought she might break her face if she didn't quit. It was kind of freaking me out.

"Uh, Mom?"

She launched herself at me to press kisses all over my face.

"Mom….stop….get-off-," I grumbled. She used to do that to me all the time when I was little. She'd tackle me and hold me down. When she sat back, I rubbed my cheek to get her spit off me.

"When is she due? And why didn't you tell me?"

"Mom, we don't know officially, yet. We're going to take the test tomorrow. Shelby and I want Jake and Nessie there."

She was still grinning. "But you do think she's pregnant?"

I blushed, thinking about Caden's comments. "Well, yeah. She's been eating things she didn't previously like and she's gained a little weight…in certain areas. And she's sensitive in others."

Mom's brows furrowed and she nodded as if she knew exactly what I was talking about. But of course she did. She'd gone through those things with both me and Leah. And then she seemed to realize something.

"So how is she doing with that possibility?" she asked softly.

I sighed again as Charlie set a plate on the table and sat down. Shelby and my mom were actually close and I knew that they'd had the whole conversation about Shelby's mom.

"She's nervous. Nessie and I keep telling her the obvious, that she's not her mom. But she's still scared. I think it's because she wants a baby and she's already hoping for one."

"It's a scary feeling, Seth. Even when I was married to your father and I found out I was pregnant with Leah, it terrified me."

That surprised me. Dad had loved Mom. "Why?" I asked.

She inhaled deeply and glanced at Charlie, who smiled encouragingly and took her hand. "Our marriage was so fresh and we'd talked about when we wanted to start our family and it wasn't then. We'd wanted to wait, but accidents happen and I ended up pregnant. I was so scared that your father didn't love me enough to stay with me. That he'd be angry." Her smile softened with her memories. "But Harry was wonderful. He was so into the daddy title. And he couldn't wait to have another." Her eyes came back to mine. "But my point is she's scared. Someone she loved already left her for no reason that she knew of. A mother is not supposed to leave her child, ever. I think she's more scared of you abandoning her whether or not the pregnancy is there."

"I'd never abandon her. I've told her that countless times."

Mom squeezed my hand. "Seth, it was the same with me and your father. I didn't believe him until after Leah was born and he stuck around. Actions made all the difference to me. Shelby's the same way." She stood up and kissed my forehead. "Just be patient with her. Your relationship is still new, baby or no baby. Trust takes time to build."

I nodded, standing up to go to the counter.

"Now, tell me how my daughter is?"

I rolled my eyes. "Probably going to be giving you a grandchild soon, too, if she doesn't stop romping around in the woods with Caden."

Mom sighed dreamily. "I love that boy. He's the best thing that's happened to her."

Charlie nudged her with a grin. "You just like the accent."

She shrugged shamelessly. "Can't help it."

Charlie and I shared a look and an eye roll.

As the hours passed, we sat there just talking about family and the rez and the pack. But I watched my mom with her new husband. And found that I really was rooting for them. It would make sense that my mom fall for my dad's best friend. They'd been so close and so alike. Mom and Charlie reminded each other of their lost loved one. It was a way to remember Dad. And he'd be happy to know that the woman he loved was being taken care of by the man that he'd thought of as a brother.

It was getting dark out when I decided to leave. Shelby had to be worn out from Alice and Rosalie. She'd been getting worn out a lot lately after hours of wedding planning, so I said my good nights and promised that I'd come back and bring Shelby with me. Mom made me promise to call her when we found out for sure.

On my way out the door, my phone rang. It was Shelby telling me to get my butt home. Grinning, I darted into the rain to get back to my mate.

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***Sigh* So much love. I love Seth. So please tell me if you think I got him right or not. I'm not as nice as he is so it was hard to write him. Please review. And as always y'all are awesome! xoxoxoxoxo**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey, guys. Sorry it took so long to update. This chapter was really hard on me. Even though it's short, it's kind of intense. And it kind of comes out of nowhere so you'll be siding with Jacob on this one. I know I was. But in a way Nessie also makes some sense, and I could see the situation from her POV as well. So please don't knock her too hard. And it made me cry, so some of you saps may want some tissues.**

**Don't own :(**

**Please Enjoy!**

* * *

**ShelbyPOV**

Seth had been gone for hours. What the hell was he doing? After I tucked my phone back into my pocket, I went for the kitchen. Man, I was starving even though I'd eaten a few hours ago. And I had this craving for fish. Which stopped me in my tracks. Fish? Even though my brain thought it was disgusting, my stomach rumbled for me to hurry my ass up.

I opened the freezer, hoping that any meat we had would be in there. Of course, they may not have any fish because Nessie, Jake, and Seth never ate the stuff. We all stuck to the red meat. I was about to give up the hunt when I moved a package of hamburger. _Aha!_

But when I straightened up and closed the door, I jumped about two feet into the air. Putting a hand on my chest, I struggled to swallow my heart.

"Geez, Esme. I didn't see or hear you. You scared the crap out of me."

Her smile was gentle. "Sorry, sweetie." She reached for the package in my hand. "Here, let me fix this up for you."

I couldn't help but smile back and give in. She just had this way about her that made you want to give in just to see her smile.

"Thanks, Esme."

And there it was. That smile that said she was happy to help someone she cared about. She took the package from me and popped it into the microwave to defrost a little.

"How would you like it fixed?"

"Um…Well, I don't normally eat fish so I don't know," I admitted.

"Oh, right." A thoughtful look crossed her delicate features. "How about I just make it the way I do for Caden? That's how you ate it last time."

I nodded. "I think that would be best since we know I like it that way."

She smiled again and patted my hand. "Now, go meet your wolf at the door. I think I hear him coming up the drive."

I headed for the door but turned back. "Are you sure there's nothing I can do to help?"

A wooden spoon appeared at my face. "Go. I've got everything covered here."

Sighing in defeat, I said," Thank you, Esme. You're too good to us."

"Absolutely not. Anything for my grandchildren."

Well, that made me pause in the doorway again. I glanced back at her as she started moving around the kitchen, humming and smiling to herself. She hadn't said it to get a reaction out of me. She'd said it like it was the most natural thing in the world, as if I was truly her granddaughter.

Before I could help it, I burst into tears. But I wasn't so far gone emotionally to know that the whole house had frozen. And then the door swung open and shut.

"Shelby?" Seth's voice called out.

I couldn't answer him I was crying so hard.

His voice got closer as he walked down the hall. "Hey, why is everybody so-,"

He didn't finish as he stepped in front of me in the kitchen doorway. His eyes went wide as they swept over my body, no doubt checking me for injury. Apparently he didn't believe that his eyes were telling him that I was fine because he came forward and ran his hands over me.

"Shelby? Hey, what's wrong? Are you ok?"

I tried to nod and shake my head at the same time. It didn't work. Before Seth picked me up like I was a child, I felt a gentle hand stroke my hair. After a moment, Seth pulled me close to his chest and turned for the stairs.

"I'm going to take her up. Will you let me know when the food is ready?"

"Of course."

In what seemed like no time, Seth was laying me down on the bed, pulling the blankets over me, and then laying down beside me. His thumbs pressed into my cheeks, rubbing away the tears.

When I stopped the stupid hiccupping, he pressed his lips gently to mine. "Baby, please tell me what that was about. I'm about to lose it over here."

I laughed through my tears. "She called me her granddaughter," I whispered.

"What?"

Wiping the rest of my tears away, I took a deep breath. "Esme-she called me her granddaughter. Seth, I've never had a family before. And now, all of a sudden, I do. All this caring, emotional crap is making me emotional."

He chuckled and pulled me against him. "That's the point, Shelbs. Families love and take care of each other." He tucked his face into my neck. "God, you scared me. I thought something had happened before we even found out."

I stroked his nape and shoulders, steadily calming down. It was as if he were my worry stone.

"I'd have called you the moment I felt anything. You know that."

There was a pause and then he nodded. "Yeah, I know."

Those large hands stroked up my sides, petting me. "I just need you to be ok. Do you understand that?"

"Of course, Seth." My lips pressed a kiss to the top of his head. "I need you to be ok, too."

Silence followed as we both thought about whatever was running through our minds. And after a while of just stroking each other, we fell asleep.

Seth was the best blanket ever.

**JPOV**

Leila had just gone down for the count for the night, but Nessie and I stayed in the living room just in case. She leaned against my side and watched the fire. I knew she was exhausted. Leila always wanted to be with her and Nessie couldn't say no. I was pretty worn out myself.

But something was off with Nessie. It was the way she held herself. The tension in her body sang against my side. Usually when she was tense I could stroke it out of her by playing my hand softly over her back, but it wasn't working this time. And usually by now she'd have looked up at me with a smile and kissed me. Not now. The fire utterly absorbed her attention.

Opening my trap to ask her what was wrong, she blinked and asked me a question that punched all the air out of my lungs.

"Jacob, why do you love me?" Her tone told me that she was dead serious about the answer and wasn't just fishing for compliments. And she didn't look at me, just stared into the fire.

Temporarily stunned into silence, I cleared my throat and shifted on the couch. My first impulse was to tell her all the glorious things about her, but after a second thought, I found that the question actually bothered me.

I frowned. "What brought that on?"

She inhaled deeply and then let it out slowly. But didn't answer me.

"Nessie?" I was bothered enough to be perilously close to ordering her in my Alpha voice.

Her eyes stayed on the fire and her jaw hardened. "I was thinking about our earlier argument."

Funny, I hadn't thought of it as an argument. More of her putting me in my place.

"And? What about it?"

"You imprinted on me…involuntarily. You _hated_ me before and just after I was born. If you hadn't imprinted and my mother still survived, you'd still hate me, right? That's what logic tells me."

My tone got hard. "So you're saying that I actually am undeserving just because I had my eyes opened by an involuntary force?"

"That's not what I'm saying at all. I'm wondering how much of our love is actually you loving me or the imprint telling you that you love me." She finally looked at me and her eyes were unbearably sad. "I know I love you, and I know why. But was it really me who calmed you down? Or a force of nature that gave you no choice?"

All I could do was stare at her. Actually, I was probably glaring. My hands flexed into tense fists. "Are you telling me that you think I don't love you?"

"I know that part of you does, but that's the imprint part. The rest I'm not so convinced about."

"And why's that?" I asked between my teeth.

She pushed away from me and wrapped her arms around her legs, resting her chin on her knees, eyes still glued to the fire. It didn't look like she was going to answer me because she stayed silent, her eyes telling me that she'd talked herself into some bullshit lie.

I had to get away from her before I gripped her by the arms and made her look at me. So I jumped up off the couch and paced, my hands rubbing through my hair.

"I don't understand where all this shit came from, Nessie. You were fine earlier and at dinner. What happened between then and now?"

Again she stayed quiet, but I could see it in her face that she had an answer. She just didn't want to say it.

"Dammit, Nessie, answer the fucking question."

Those eyes snapped to me. There was anger there now, but the sadness overrode it. I was so tempted to let go of the anger and run to her. Instead we just glared at each other.

"Fine," she snapped. "If we'd met the way Shelby and Seth had we'd have already made love." Those angry brown eyes moved back to the fire. "Instead, you're so careful, trying not to 'spook' me." She choked out a laugh that sounded like broken glass. "Come on, Jake. If we'd met now, with me grown and telling you that I was twenty, we'd be dancing between the sheets, but no, you're so caught up in your damn head, thinking that I'm still a little girl. Or am I really that distasteful to you? Do suddenly remember that you're supposed to hate me for almost taking away the woman you loved? Or that I actually took her from you by being born and forcing my dad's hand to change her?"

My eyes practically fell out of my face. "Are you kidding?! This is about sex?" That was the only topic I was touching on. I couldn't get near the whole Bella subject right now.

Tears glittered in her eyes while her jaw clenched and unclenched. "No, that's not what this is about. That was an example. And let me continue with it because it makes my point. We get all hot and heavy with you losing yourself to the sensations, and then out of nowhere you stop, cover me up, and run for the bathroom. Like you're ashamed that you want me so you have to go get rid of your erection so that I don't see it."

Now she was angry. She'd worked herself up nice and tight. It was there in her body as she stood up from the couch. Her back was straight, shoulders square, and fists clenched at her sides.

And so help me, but the next words out of her mouth actually made her point achingly clear. Wrong, but clear.

"You can't make love to me because you don't love me! That's the only thing I can come up with." The tears fell down her face and she swiped at them angrily. "Every single fucking time we get anywhere in bed, you apologize. And I thought it was to me, but was it really to _you_? To yourself? Are you apologizing to yourself because you can't stop yourself with the imprint pulling you to me?"

For once in my life, I was utterly speechless. Not even a curse came to my mind. My jaw unhinged, leaving my mouth hanging slightly open. Looking like a fish out of water as I tried to close it, she took my silence as her answer. Turning on her socked heel, she went for the stairs that led to the bedroom.

After about five minutes of listening to the house around me, my body got tired of standing still even though my brain still wasn't working right. My feet carried me to the head of the stairs. I could hear her moving around down there, getting dressed for bed, brushing her teeth, and slipping between the sheets.

And all of a sudden, my brain turned back on. _What the fuck just happened?!_ Clearly my brain and I had the same thought. And with that thought came a boatload of anger. I could see where she was coming from, but I hadn't in a million years thought that it _would_ come. This was ridiculous. The imprinting crap was supposed to be behind us now, not coming up to bite me in the ass…again.

Hauling my ass down the steps, I went to the closet, grabbed some sweats, a pillow off the bed, and another blanket out of the closet all while keeping my eyes off her.

"Where are you going?" she asked quietly from the bed.

Holding back a snarky comment by the skin of my teeth, I gritted them and said, "Sleeping upstairs. Need anything, scream."

As I headed for the stairs, my eyes betrayed me and slid over to her. As soon as I did, she looked down, and I realized that she was playing with the ring on her finger. The ring that I'd put there when I'd asked her to marry me back in December. Clearly, she was rethinking her answer.

And didn't that just gripe my ass. Growling deep in my chest, I ripped my eyes away from her and took the stairs three at a time. I never thought that I'd need to be away from her. But if I stayed in that bed with her, something was going to come out of my mouth that I'd regret.

Once I reached the top of the stairs, I lost steam. I just stood there, staring around at all the shadows of memories that danced around me. Memories and dreams. An ache in my chest had me rubbing the spot over my heart. Anger bubbled up in my stomach. I'd felt this type of anger before back when the whole love triangle with me, Bella, and Edward was spinning around. But now only one face popped up in my head.

Clenching my jaw hard to keep from screaming my confusion, I threw the blanket and pillow onto the couch. If I went to the top floor, I'd probably wake up Leila with my snoring. If I slept at all. After I quickly changed into the sweats and stripped my shirt off, I flung myself on top of the blanket, put a hand behind my head, and stared at the fire.

Where had all that come from with her? What had I said earlier? Going back into my head through our earlier conversation where she backed me up into my place, I sifted through what there could be for her to throw this crap around. And unfortunately, I was pretty sure that I found the trigger.

_Trying to be everything I was before_? God…damn, what the hell was wrong with me? I'd practically told her that I had changed, and not for the best, since before her mother. The other Jacob. The innocent Jacob. The sixteen year old Jacob in love with the seventeen year old Bella. Rubbing my face hard with my hands, I wanted to scream. But I didn't. Instead, I looked down at my chest and the mark that she'd left over my heart. Which was currently crumbling as it broke.

She'd said that she loved me and she knew why. How the hell could I possible prove to her that I loved her beyond the imprint? That it wasn't just some force of nature pull that I couldn't fight?

Growling, I got up off the couch and went to the stairs, telling myself that whether or not she wanted me, she did need me. If only to keep her nightmares of my death away.

If she'd even still have them.

**RPOV**

I was surprised to wake up warm in the morning. And not screaming from a nightmare. But I guess my fight Jacob had knocked some things into prospective. I hadn't meant to go off the way I had. That thought had been running through my head ever since he'd said what he had, that he should have been trying to be everything he'd been before. What the hell did that mean? Had that meant that he was putting on a front? That I'd grown up with a stranger and I really didn't know him?

But God my chest ached from the way I'd left him. He'd looked so stricken and lost. Especially since it had just come out of me from out of nowhere. At first it hadn't even processed, but as I'd sat down with him for lunch with Leila in my arms, it had started to tick. And eventually it had festered until my skin itched and pieces had started falling into place. But even if it wasn't true, it was still a valid argument. How did I know that he really loved me? He'd hated me before.

Rolling over onto my back, I covered my eyes with my hands and groaned. But a thump to my left had me jumping out of my skin. Opening my eyes, I saw Jacob's pillow next to my head.

"Sorry," he said in a dead voice. "Just putting up the stuff since we're heading out today." When he turned away, I saw the unmistakable sheen in his eyes.

"Jacob-,"

He held up a hand. "Nope. Don't. You made yourself perfectly clear last night."

Without another word, he started going around the room, collecting clothes and other items to go back in our bags. And he was meticulous about separating our things. That made tears spring up in my eyes. Usually we just threw all our crap together and separated it later.

He threw my bag onto the bed. "Here. Get what you need so I can pack it up."

His words were short and clipped. He wouldn't look at me. With shaking hands, I rifled through the bag, taking out clean clothes. Quickly, I ducked into the bathroom and changed. When I came out, he held his hand out for my sleep clothes, his eyes still on the floor, or staring into nothing. As soon as they touched his fingers, he gripped them, folded them, and laid them gently in the bag.

Not one more word was said as he moved around me, picking up things and stuffing them in pockets. And I stood perfectly still. Feeling utterly lost, I scrambled upstairs to be away from him. As I'd told him last night, I loved him. But he'd pretty much told me that he wasn't the person he used to be. So was I in love with a stranger? And that was why I couldn't be around him. I didn't know the answer, and he dead voice and shimmering eyes made me want to get on my knees and beg for forgiveness. But I couldn't do that. I needed to process my thoughts and situations. Was it fair of me to have dumped that on him? Absolutely not. But did the ring on my left hand now weigh a thousand pounds? That would be a loud _hell yes._

So I found myself standing in the kitchen, staring at the running dishwasher, the clean counters, and everything in its place. Jacob had had breakfast and cleaned up. My eyes watered again. Dammit.

From upstairs, a familiar cry rang down. Needing something to do and to get further away from Jacob, I ran up the stairs and went to Leila. I went through our normal morning routine, but I wasn't expecting a warm bottle on the kitchen counter when I went down.

"Thank you, Jacob," I whispered.

As I reached for the bottle, his hand came out of nowhere and gripped my fingers in his heavy palm. His thumb stroked his mother's ring. Daring a look at his face, I wasn't sure if I was relieved or scared that the tears were gone.

And then he started to pull the ring off my finger. "Jacob-," I started in alarm, but he shook his head.

"You were rethinking the answer you gave me." He pulled the ring off and stared at it. It was tiny in his large palm. And then his eyes met mine. "Somehow, I'm going to make you sure about me." He shook his head. "I don't know how, but I will. The gift of words never was a talent of mine. And honestly, I can see your points." Those dark eyes hardened. "Even if they are wrong."

My breath caught as he tucked the ring into his pocket.

"I'll just hold on to that until I can get shit figured out. And I won't hold you to your answer."

My eyes stayed on his pocket where my ring was. "Jacob, I want that back. Right now."

That head shake was irritating. "No. You aren't sure of me anymore. And I won't have my mother disrespected by putting that ring on the finger of a woman who can't decide if she loves me or not."

Horror came over my face. My God, he was right.

I thought he was going to touch me when he stepped in close, but all he did was reach for the bottle and prop it up against the blanket for Leila to drink.

When he walked away with anger written all over his body, I burst into silent tears and shoved my face into the blanket, the bottle propped against my temple.

The trip back to the house was a quiet one. Of course it was. We were both trapped in our heads. Back in the cabin, I'd vowed to myself that I wouldn't pull that crying stunt again. It would get me nowhere and I had too much thinking to do to get that caught up in emotions. Not to mention that I felt completely idiotic because when I'd finally lifted my head up from Leila's little body, Jacob had been standing in the doorway. A completely black sadness was buried in his eyes…along with the anger.

Thankfully, the big house was not currently inhabited by my dad. But Shelby and Seth were there. Jacob threw our bags in the foyer and met Seth.

"Hey, man. Where ya off to?" Jacob asked as they bumped fists.

Seth looked confused but said, "Patrol shift." He glanced at me. "We weren't expecting you back so early."

"Yeah, well, we decided to get Leila back to her mother," Jacob evaded smoothly.

My chest ached with how quickly and easily the lie came.

"Nessie, you ok?" Shelby whispered in my ear.

Absently, I nodded.

"Well, I think I'm gonna come with. You mind?" Jacob said. His voice had hardened after I'd nodded.

Seth shifted on his feet, clearly sensing that something was up. "Uh, Jake, I thought we talked about you taking a brea-,"

Jacob interrupted him. "That really wasn't a request. Whether I run with you or alone doesn't matter. I'm still running."

Seth's dark eyebrows skyrocketed into his hairline as Shelby slipped an arm around my waist. She sensed it, too.

"Ah, sure, Jake. Whatever floats your boat, I guess." Seth clapped Jake on the shoulder and led him out of the house.

Jacob glanced at me. There was a resolve there beside the anger and sadness. He was determined, but still very pissed off. Seth stole a look at Shelby and widened his eyes. I saw her nod. As soon as the door was closed behind the boys, Shelby turned on me.

"What the hell happened? You're supposed to come back relaxed and happy. Not looking like the two of you broke up."

I opened my mouth to answer her but figured she needed a visual first. So I held up my left hand, the hand that no longer had a ring on it.

She gasped a gripped my fingers. "What happened? Did you lose it? Tell me you lost it."

My head moved back and forth. "Jacob took it," I whispered. In my arms, Leila stretched, but I wasn't good to be around her right now. I held her out to Shelby. "Look, can you take care of her until Emily comes to get her? I don't want to be around her in this mood. Thanks." Not giving her the choice to say no, I pushed the baby into her arms, making sure she had her secure before I moved for the stairs.

"Yeah, I'll take care of her," Shelby's angry voice followed me like a sticky shadow, "But you're damn well going to stay down here and talk to me. What the fuck happened?"

I shook my head again. "No, Shelby. I'm really not going to talk about it." Stopping, I turned on the stairs. "Would you like to know why?" Again, I didn't give her time to answer. "It's because you're going to tell me I'm being stupid, that of course Jacob loves me, end of conversation. Well, it's not the end of the conversation. There's something about him that I need to know and until he can find the words to tell me, we're off." I closed my eyes against her hurt and confused eyes. "I really don't like yelling at you, so I'm going to go up to my room and try not to fall apart."

When I opened my eyes, she was crying. "If you need me, you know where I am."

"I'm sorry, Shelby. I love you like a sister. But sometimes things have to be done alone."

The tears ran faster. "No," she whispered. "They really don't."

Before I could give in, start weeping, and tell her everything, I raced up the stairs and slammed my door.

* * *

**So I know a lot of you are mad at Nessie, but if you take Jake's POVs out of the story, I could totally see her point. And of course now there's a little aggression in Jacob. Some of his old anger coming through. Please review! They make my day awesome. Love you guys xoxoxoxoxo**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys! Chapter 6 has arrived. And oh, man. A lot of you, surprisingly, sided with Nessie. And from your comments, I can see both sides of the table. But then I am the omniscient author :) This chapter and probably the next couple chapters are going to be difficult. I hate hurting Jacob. I love him to death. And Nessie...well, Nessie will be Nessie. Also, a lot of you might get mad about Edward's response to all of this. It actually shocked me when it came to me, but it's not in this chapter. So hold tight. It's gonna be a rough one.**

***Disclaimer here***

**Please Enjoy**

* * *

**SethPOV**

Something was seriously wrong. I could feel Jacob's agony and anger as we ran. He knew I felt it, but he kept reciting random mechanical things. And Nessie hadn't looked much better. They both looked as if they were dead, their eyes emotionless as they stared off into nothing. But when one or other had glanced at the other, emotion welled up. Anger and sadness in both of them. More anger on Jacob's side and sadness on Nessie's.

_Jake, I know you don't want to talk about it,-_

_Then let's not talk about it._

_Jacob, what happened?_

_I thought we weren't talking about it?_

_Jacob!_

_What?!_

I dug my claws into the ground and sped ahead of him and then turned on him, blocking his path. His choices were skidding to a halt or mowing me down. For a moment, I thought he might pick the second choice, but last second he dug his paws into the ground. Those massive shoulders hefted up and down as he caught his breath.

_Whether you like it or not, Jacob, you need to talk to me about this. Your head's not in the game right now._

_Why? There's nothing you can do to change anything._

_Maybe not, but talking about it might help you figure out how to fix it since whatever's going on is between you and Nessie._

He flinched both physically and mentally at her name.

_What happened, Jacob,_ I asked softly.

He whimpered and lowered himself to his belly and covered his eyes with his massive paws.

_Not right now, Seth. Please. It's too fresh._

_She didn't have her ring on. I saw that._

_Fine,_ he growled out._ She's not sure of me anymore, ok? She doesn't know if I love her beyond the imprint. That in fact the imprint pulls me to her when I don't really want to be there._

At first, all I did was stare at him. _She what?_

_Yeah._ He got to his feet and started pacing. _Seth, from what she said, I can see her point. I opened my damn mouth and told her that I wasn't the same guy that I was before Edward came back for Bella eleven years or so ago. She thinks that I actually hate her and that's why I pull away from her when we get…close. She says I must come to my senses and realize what I'm doing because the imprint pulls me to her when I don't really want to be there._

_That's bullshit, Jacob. You don't hate her._

_No, but Seth, she's right. If I had left after Bella's heart stopped and never seen nor imprinted on Nessie and I came back, would I still hate her for being the reason Bella had to be changed?_

_Jacob, listen to me. Bella would have changed whether or not she was pregnant and was forced into the change. You and Nessie are soul mates. End of that argument._

_But how am I going to prove that to her when it's true that I would have come back hating her for the death of her mother? A woman that I really didn't love in the first place? The only reason I was drawn to her was because she was supposed to give birth to Nessie. The universe was keeping me next to Bella so that I would be there to see Nessie._

_Did you tell her that?_

_Well, no, but,-_

_No 'buts', Jake._

He shook his head and paced faster. _But I can't just go after her right now and say all that. She'd think I was desperate. I need to actually take time to think about this._ And then he stopped and just stared into the trees. _But, damn, I'm so fucking pissed off. This imprint shit wasn't supposed to come back like this. We were supposed to be done with it._

_Ok, so she has a valid point. But this anger isn't you, Jake. This is how you were with Bella and Edward, especially with Bella._

He stopped pacing and looked at me. _What are you talking about?_

I sighed. _Your anger with Edward was one thing. But the way you were pissed off with Bella never made sense to me. You were bipolar with her. One second sweet as pie. The next you were all up in her face, angry with her. And now you're angry at Nessie for fighting something that she feels needs to not be accepted blindly. She has a point. You need to sit down with her and go over your life and explain to her what that comment meant._

_She thinks I'm a stranger, Seth. Our whole nine, almost ten, years together? She's rethinking all of that. What do I do?_

_Jacob, in a way, you are a stranger. She changed you. You're so different than what you used to be, but times change people. You weren't going to stay the sixteen year old chipper kid that you were when Bella first sought you out after Edward left. You aren't him anymore. That's what she's trying to understand. She's only ever known you like this and I bet you that she's trying to imagine you a different way. So in a sense she feels like you've been lying to her._

_Goddammit, Seth. Am I supposed to give her my whole life story?_

Mentally, I shrugged. _Maybe that's what it will take for her to understand._

_Ugh! Look, can we just drop this and run? I need to move. I need to…to move._

_Sure, big guy. Let's do some laps._

And laps we ran.

**RPOV**

Sometime late in the afternoon, there was a knock on my door. I'd been sitting on the floor in front of my wall that was covered in pictures for hours. Pictures of me and Jacob. God, had I really torn us apart like that? My eyes kept dragging and latching onto the picture that was and always had been my favorite. Jacob and I were standing outside in the winter. He was wrapped around me from behind. And while I smiled and looked at the camera, he smiled and stared at me over my shoulder, his arms around my waist.

"Nessie?" Shelby's voice was gentle as it came through the door. The house had been silent ever since I heard Emily come pick up Leila. Her voice kind of startled me.

I quickly and angrily swiped my tears away. "Yeah?"

She hesitantly opened the door and stepped inside. Her smile was sad yet hopeful. "Hey."

"Hey." Even to my ears my voice sounded dead, devoid of any emotion.

"Would you like something to eat? I was going to make some pasta."

I was about to open my mouth to say no, but my stomach rumbled, giving me away. Bastard.

Sighing, I lifted myself off the floor using the bed at my back. It was odd to be moving, feeling things. But after a moment of struggling to my feet, I frowned and ran my hand against the comforter. Nothing. I felt absolutely nothing. I couldn't tell if it was warm or cold, soft or unyielding. Bringing my hand up to my face, I rubbed my fingers together. Still, I felt nothing. Not even the ridges of my fingerprints.

"Nessie? What's wrong?"

Something about the not feeling tugged at my memory, but I didn't know what it was. And I couldn't recall what was lurking around.

So I dropped my hand and turned to Shelby. "Nothing. Let's eat. I'm starving."

**Shelby POV**

That girl had a bad habit of lying and keeping things from me. I scowled at the back of her head as I followed her down the stairs. But as soon as we got to the kitchen, I tried to smooth it out. Something was wrong between her and Jacob. And she was probably super upset about it. The dead look on her face when I'd opened the door had knocked the breath out of me…and scared me shitless. And her fake _I'm-ok-it's-nothing_ routine was wearing on my nervous rather quickly.

While she sat at the table, I went over to the stove where I'd already started boiling the pasta. It was coming along nicely. And now for the sausage and sauce. Abruptly, I tossed the wooden spoon on the counter and twirled around on my heel.

"Nessie, please talk to me."

She just shook her head and hugged her shoulders, not meeting my eyes.

"Renesmee Carlie Cullen."

At the sound of her full name, she turned and looked at me with eyebrows raised.

"That's better. Now, I'm serious. I don't like seeing you like this. What happened up there?"

She blinked those dark chocolate eyes at me. But I could see that she was about to change the subject.

And sure enough… "Where is everybody?"

I ground my teeth, surprised they weren't a fine powder by now, and swiveled back around to the stove.

"They went on a hunting trip that'll last a few days."

"What? Why didn't they tell me they were leaving?"

I shrugged. "It was spur of the moment. And they probably figured you and Jacob would like some down time, but apparently he's running himself into the ground and you're in zombieland."

"I am not."

The snort that came out of me would have made a Valley Girl proud. "Yeah, whatever bakes your cake, hun."

She growled slightly. "I'm completely fine."

"Uh-huh. Then, I guess they changed the definition of 'fine' in the last few hours and forgot to tell me about it, because, sweetie, you are most certainly _not_ fine."

There was nothing but silence behind me. And when I turned around, I felt like a bitch from hell. Tears were flowing freely down her cheeks as she rested her chin on her crossed arms.

"I'm sorry, Nessie," I said as I went to her.

Surprisingly, she let me wrap my arms around her. She didn't hug me back, but after a second or two, I felt the tremors in her body that let me know she was now on a full crying jag. And I just held her through it. I stroked her long bronze curls that were so much like Edward's and murmured into it, saying things like _it's ok _and_ we'll get through it._ Seth was out with Jake, and no doubt my mate had gotten the Alpha to talk. He had a way with people. A way that I didn't possess. Nessie and I were both stubborn and went head to head all the time. We could never agree to disagree. It was one or the other with us. And right now, she was winning.

After a while, she lifted her hand to scrub away the tears. "Thank you, Shelby. It's just too soon to talk about. And let's just say that I may have put something in motion that Jake and I may not be able to fix."

Stroking her hair again, I went down on my haunches. "Oh, Nessie. If there's anything I say about this that you will listen to, make it this. You and Jake are supposed to be together. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. I don't know what's going on, but you can come to me. Or hell, anybody. Go to anybody. Just don't keep what's going on inside. Jacob has Seth, and I know those two are gossiping like old biddies. So please, don't keep it in. I don't want to see you rip yourself apart."

She gave me a sad almost-smile and put her hand over mine. "Thanks. It's too soon for me to talk about now. I need at least one more day to think about things."

"Promise me, Ness. Right now. Promise me that you will talk."

She just stared at me.

Sighing, I got to my feet and went back to making dinner. And then surprised myself at what came out of my mouth.

"I think I'm pregnant."

There was a gasp behind me. The scrape of a chair. And then a hand on my shoulder. The urge to cry surfaced. She knew my fears. And I had temporarily helped her forget her worries at the sacrifice of bringing mine to the surface.

She turned me to face her. Finally, there was emotion in her eyes. Happiness, sadness, love, worry, and understanding all there in her eyes.

"Shelby?"

I nodded and tried not to choke. Going back to the food, I cleared my throat and said, "Yeah, I've been eating weird stuff. And Seth says that he's noticed I've gained a little weight. Caden said that that shouldn't happen with my new high metabolism."

"Have you taken a test yet?"

I shook my head, my hair bouncing into my face. "No. Seth and I were waiting for you and Jake to come home. We wanted you guys here when we found out."

Her voice, when it came, was muffled as if she'd covered her mouth with her hands. "Oh, God, Shelby. I'm so sorry."

"It's ok. You didn't know. And of course, Seth and I are pretty sure we are. Caden thinks that might be why I haven't shifted even though I was turned in November." Taking a deep breath, I turned around and leaned on the counter. "I think I was pregnant then, too, and I just lost the baby when I was attacked. It's a logical explanation."

Without warning, Nessie pulled me into her arms. "I am so f'n sorry, Shelby. God, I'm so self-absorbed that I haven't noticed any of this."

I hugged her back, squeezing hard. "Ness, it's ok. You have to get your shit figured out. It will consume you until you do, and I understand that. Seth and I can wait for a while before the test until you can get things together with Jake. And you can't avoid him forever. I know that's what you want to do, but that confrontation has to happen. Do you hear me?"

After a couple heart beats, she nodded.

"Good. Now, let's eat. I'm starving. Afterward, I'll make some for the boys just in case they come back tonight. Seth will want to take care of Jacob."

"Because of me," Nessie whispered as she set her bowl on the table.

"Nessie-,"

"I questioned his love for me," she said in a whisper.

**JPOV**

Something was utterly wrong. Everything, actually. Everything was wrong in the world right now, now that Nessie and I were separated. God, my chest hurt. But it gave me hope that she'd wanted to keep the ring. I hadn't lost her yet, not completely.

_Hey, Jake._

Seth's voice brought me out of my thoughts and plans. _What's up?_

_I know you're stuck in your head, but do you smell that?_

Frowning, I put my muzzle to the ground and sniffed. Nothing there. So I lifted into the breeze and smelled…blood. A lot of it. My senses told me that it wasn't human or wolf so that was a relief. But it was some kind of animal. A warm-blooded animal.

_Jake, man, what do you wanna do?_

_Follow it. _And then I searched my mind for any other voices. _Christa, you wanna come with?_

Instantly her voice was there in the front of my mind like Seth's was. _Sure. Let me get up to you. I'm just in front of the Cullen house. _When the name made me flinch, she grimaced. _Sorry._

_Not a problem. We'll wait on you._

Seth and I waited in silence as we heard Christa work her way up here. We could see as she kept her eyes open to her surroundings as she moved, her ears, eyes, and nose working fiercely. Her movements were lithe and silent, a ghost lurking through the trees.

Within five minutes, she was standing at attention in front of me, her eyes cool and collected.

_Get a whiff of the scent and let's follow it._

We lifted our noses to the breeze. The scent of blood was tangy and metallic in my brain. That was a helluva lot of blood on the air. Whatever it was had to be dead. But there was also another scent mixed with it. One that I couldn't quite place. It was, at the same time, familiar and not.

As one, the three of us started into the trees, heading northeast. The closer we got, the stronger the smell became until it was a roaring scream in my head, and all I wanted to do was stand over an air freshener for days. Slowly, we came to an opening in the trees. It looked like the entranceway to a clearing.

_Easy, guys. Could be a trap._

They tightened their ranks around me, our flanks touching as they positioned their muzzles out to circle the clearing as we moved out of the shelter of the trees. We scanned the surrounding trees with narrowed eyes, our noses trying to sludge through the heavy scent of blood for any other threatening scent. When none of us found anything, our eyes moved as one to the center of the clearing.

_Shit._

_Oh, my God…_

_What the hell happened?_

We thought at the same time.

Blood was everywhere. And the past came back in a rush. This was exactly the same scene that Nessie and I had come across last year. Only a lot worse. The trees and grass…everything was covered in blood- and skin and meat. The only part of the deer that wasn't touched was the head. From the neck up, it was untouched.

_Jesus, Jake. I'm glad Nessie's not here to see this one. It would for sure give her nightmares._

_No shit. But what did it? Last time there was the smell of the other wolves, that disease. I don't smell it this time around._

_Maybe a mountain lion came too close? _Christa suggested.

_Maybe._ _I still feel uneasy._

_Are we gonna clean up?_

_Yeah. But Christa, you go back to the rez and tell Sam what we found. Be sure Em's not around. I don't wanna freak her out if this really was a lion._

_Sure thing. See you guys later._

After I was sure that she was gone, Seth and I phased back and started cleaning up as best we could. What was left of the deer, we shoved into the brush. Hopefully a bear or something would come finish off the rest. We used dirt to scrub the blood off the trees and threw some on the weeds and surrounding shrubs.

When we were satisfied, we took off. It was time for this patrol shift to end anyway. And whether she was angry with me or not, I needed to be close to Nessie. Especially after this. It was like we were being haunted by past episodes and I needed to know that she was ok.

The house came into view in record time. We both paused at the edge of the trees to phase back and slip into our jeans. Stuffing a hand into my pocket, I breathed a sigh of relief as I felt my mother's ring. Seth slapped me on the shoulder and squeezed as we went through the kitchen door. The wonderful smell of sausage and pasta greeted us like old friends and our stomachs grumbled. Shelby was at the sink washing dishes. The food that she'd cooked was sitting in containers on the counter as if they were cooling off before she put them up, or waiting for us to come eat them.

Before Seth even thought about food, he went to Shelby and wrapped her up in his arms, hugging her close. She turned to face him and snuggled into his chest. I frowned. What I could see of her face was tear-stained, red and blotchy.

I was about to open my mouth when Seth beat me to it. "You ok?" he asked.

When she nodded, something in my chest loosened up. While they were busy, I put a bowl of pasta together for Seth, set it on the table, and went for my own. It was a couple minutes later that Seth joined me, pulling Shelby onto his lap. I noticed as his arm snaked around her hip and his hand rested on her lower belly protectively.

_She's pregnant,_ I thought as her hands went to cover his.

When I swallowed, I waited to take my next bite and listened. When Emily had been pregnant, I'd been able to hear the flutter of the baby's heartbeat. But I didn't hear anything now. Shrugging I went back to my food, thinking that it may be too early in the pregnancy to hear anything. A moment later, however, Shelby stood up to go back to washing dishes…and I heard it. It was soft probably because it _was_ early on and their hands had muffled the sound. But boy I heard it now.

"Jake? You ok, man?" Seth asked. He was looking at me like he was worried about my mental health. Probably because I'd paused with my fork halfway to my mouth to listen.

I cleared my throat and finished my bite. "Ah, yeah. I was just…listening."

"To what?"

After glancing at the two of them, I settled my stare on Seth. "A fluttering sound."

Seth's eyes were confused. But when I slid mine to Shelby, they widened in understanding.

But Shelby didn't get it and thought I was talking about something else. "Oh, Nessie's upstairs."

She thought I was talking about Nessie's heartbeat. Far from. I was talking about Seth's baby's heartbeat.

Despite the fact that my world was falling apart and there was a terrible ache in my chest, I smiled as I finished eating. Damn, it would be good to have the joy of another baby around. And a baby from Seth and Shelby would be a damn fine kid.

When Shelby came over a few minutes later to pick up our dirty dishes, she glanced between the two of us and demanded, "What are you two smiling about?"

Now that she was closer, the sound of fluttering grew louder. Yup, definitely pregnant.

"Nothing," Seth and I said at the same time.

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever." Then she turned to me. "Are you going to Nessie?"

My smile vanished and I knew a grimace had replaced it. "She doesn't want me with her."

A moment later, there was a slap on the back of my head. Before I could say anything she started in on me. "Now, you listen to me. I will tell you what I told her. You cannot avoid each other forever. A confrontation has to happen. The least you can do is go sit up there with her because that's what she's been doing all day: sitting on that floor in front of her wall of pictures." She backed up out of my face, her own expression softening as she crossed her arms. "And she'll be asleep soon anyway."

"How do you know that?"

She shifted uncomfortably on her feet. "I may have crushed up a couple sleeping pills and put it in her drink. Don't give me that look. She needs to sleep. And again, as I told her, she's in zombieland right now. It's not good for her. She needs rest or she'll get sick."

I shook my head, but she continued to glare at me. A growl rose up in my chest. "Fine. I'll go sit with her."

Five minutes later, I was still standing outside her door, breathing and shaking. Could I really do this? What if she told me to leave and not come back? That I couldn't handle. As I turned and headed for the stairs, Shelby's growl echoed up from the foot of them. Dammit.

Scrubbing a hand over my face, I went back to the door and opened it softly before I could talk myself into locking myself in the bathroom. No doubt Shelby would bust the door down anyway, lock or no lock.

My breath stopped in my chest when I saw Nessie. If it was possible, she was more beautiful than I remembered. It had been only a few hours since I'd seen her, but my chest ached with the need to fold her up in my arms. But I knew that she was still confused about me.

"Hey," I said softly.

Her eyes met mine briefly. "Hey. You don't have to come sit if you don't want, Jake."

Closing the door behind me, I went to stand in front of her. "But I do want."

For a moment her eyes shone with sad love, but then she caught herself and looked away. Her shrug was the only permission I was going to get, but I took it. I lowered myself next to her on the floor, my back against the bed, and smelled…agony. And her tears. And that's when I realized that she hadn't wanted to do or say what she had, but that she felt she needed to. It was a necessity for her self-preservation. With that revelation, I knew I needed to do everything I could to make her understand that I love her. She thought that I was only around her when the imprint pulled me to her, so therefore, I needed to do things for her and be around her so she'd know that I wanted to be where I belonged, which was right next to her.

Copying her, I stared at the wall that was entirely covered in pictures. And it wasn't just me and her. The entire family, even Morgan, was featured somewhere among them. But the one my eyes kept finding was the one Nessie had said was her favorite. Us in the snow. Me staring at her as she smiled at the camera with me wrapped possessively and protectively around her. We'd been happy then, before we'd had the imprint conversation and gotten together in that cabin. Now we were both a mess.

And oddly enough, the silence in the room wasn't that uncomfortable. Neither one of us was really angry. We were sad and caught up in our own thoughts.

After about ten minutes, her left hand slid over her thigh. Her fore and middle fingers wrapped around my ring and pinkie fingers and squeezed. Not wanting her to think any hesitation was me not wanting to touch her, I squeezed back even though I was stunned that she wanted to touch me.

My surprise flared again when she let out a defeated sigh, leaned over, and rested her head on my shoulder.

Unfortunately, I stiffened in surprise and that's what made her pull away. God, she must be so confused. Now that she'd confronted me, I could see where she was coming from. She must think that that was too much, that I didn't want her that close.

"Just go, Jake," she whispered. "You don't have to pretend."

"But I'm not. You just surprised me. I didn't think you'd want me after your revelation."

It was her turn to stiffen. "Just leave." Her tone was hard. Anger had crept back into her eyes. Whether it was at me or her, I didn't know.

God, I wanted to stroke her face and hair. My hand itched toward her, to have the feelings of her under my palm. But something told me that if I reached for her, she'd pull away. And I wouldn't be able to handle that.

So, cursing, I hefted my dumbass-self off the floor. There was no way I could look back at her _and_ force myself out the door, so I just left, shutting the door behind me.

As soon as I made it down the stairs, I'd thought that I'd readied myself for Shelby's wrath, but apparently I wasn't ready for her fist to come flying at my face. My head snapped back and my ass planted itself on the stairs.

"What the hell is wrong with you? What did you do?"

Holding my hand over my busted nose and glaring up at her, my voice was muffled. "I told you she didn't want me up there. You didn't listen to me."

Her body shook in anger, her fists clenched up at her sides. As we glared at each other, a towel was shoved into my face. Seth's hand was attached to it.

"Put this to your nose."

Taking it from him, I realized that it was a bag of ice wrapped up in the towel.

"Thanks." My voice was thick with blood as it seeped down the back of my throat. It hurt, but it would heal in an hour or so. Hopefully it wouldn't heal crooked.

"Look, I don't know what the hell is going on with the two of you, but you need to get your heads out of your asses, grow a pair, and fucking talk to each other. This is utterly ridiculous." She pointed a finger at me as I opened my mouth. "I don't care who started it, who said what first, or anything like that. All I care about is someone manning up and getting their shit fixed. I don't like Nessie depressed, and I damn sure don't like punching you." She took a deep breath and calm washed over her. "I just want us to be a family, and we can't do that if you two can't or won't figure yourselves out. She's like my sister and you're like a brother to me. Don't make me chose. Now, get it together."

The whole time she was talking, it was loud enough to carry up to Nessie. And just before Shelby turned away to go back into the kitchen, I heard an upstairs door close softly. Nessie had been listening, too.

Seth helped me to my feet and ushered me into the downstairs bathroom. He left and came back with a pair of sweats and closed the door behind him without a word. Slowly and gently I washed my face. The nose was bruised and swollen, but it wasn't as bad as it could be say if Seth had hit me.

When I finally came out of the bathroom, the couch had a pillow, a sheet, and a blanket over it. They knew. Somehow they knew that Nessie and I couldn't sleep together right now, or at least fall asleep together.

Sighing in defeat, I went to the couch, laid down, and tried not to think about the aching hole in my chest or the lingering warmth from Nessie's fingers.  
Sleep, when it came, was a black hole that sucked me mercilessly into its grip.

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**So, what do we think? Who's still siding with whom? Some of you couldn't pick sides, but please let me know how you felt. It's good to know. Get all your anger out. Still loving you guys! xoxoxoxoxoxo**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hi! *waves cautiously* I know, I know. I'm just now updating again. And this is probably a shorter chapter. I just had to think about this one. This has been the hardest chapter to write so far, including the chapters from the first one. However, I would like to say that I am seriously contemplating a lemon of some sort within the next dew chapters. But it might not be a lovey-dovey mushy one. *cringes* I'm more for the primal things in life. If anybody has read the BDB series, you'd understand where I'm coming from. But of course the scene would be tasteful...I hope. **

**Now my disclaimer goes here.**

**And I hope you enjoy!**

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**JPOV**

It was around two in the morning when Seth came to me from upstairs. I knew that because I had just woken up from a nightmare of my own and looked at the clock on the cable box.

"Jacob, Nessie needs you. She's flailing around in there."

Immediately, I shook off the remnants of my own fears and vaulted up the stairs. But I slowed my roll when I got to her door. I didn't want her to wake up and throw me out.

I turned to Seth. "If you wake up early, get me up so that I'm not there when she wakes, ok?"

He nodded and went back for his and Shelby's room. As soon as his door closed, I opened the one in front of me. Nessie was tossing and turning, her legs scissoring on the bed, throwing off the covers. Tears were drying on her cheeks and her hair was a mess.

"No," she moaned in misery. "No, Jacob, please. Don't."

I recoiled at the thought of her pushing me away even in a dream.

"No, Jacob," her voice got stronger. I thought for a wild moment that she'd woken up, but her eyes stayed closed, brows tight together. "No, I won't let you. You can't leave me. You promised."

Dammit, my chest hurt. She wasn't dreaming of pushing me away. She was begging me not to leave her. Suddenly, she rolled onto her side, facing me, and curled into a shaking ball. Fresh tears flowed over her face as she sobbed in her sleep. Moving as fast and quietly as I could, I went around the bed and slid in behind her. She was so deep in sleep that she didn't even stir as I pulled her back against my chest. I wasn't quite sure if me being near her would actually help. Not until her body stilled and a sigh of relief left her as the tension drained out of her.

She was wearing one of my old shirts and a pair of short shorts. I smiled into her hair at the thought that she still wore my clothes and that I could still calm her in her sleep. When she shivered again, I pulled the comforter up and around her. Immediately, she melted back into me. The lines on her face smoothed out as she sank down into peacefulness.

For a while I just watched her and held her to me. But eventually sleep sucked at me again. Only this time, it was a little gentler.

**RPOV**

For the second morning after our fight, I woke up warm and well-rested. It looked like I'd been right about the dreams. My subconscious must have realized that there was only so much I could handle at one time.

When I rolled over, I made a small squeak. Jacob was standing silently next to the bed, a black bag in his hands.

"Sorry to scare you again. I was just putting our stuff up."

I nodded. The urge to stretch overtook me, making me arch off the bed. Jacob's eyes roamed my body. At first there was hunger there, but then it turned to anguish as if he'd thought that he'd never be able to touch me again. In that instant, I wanted to beg for forgiveness, to beg for him to forget what I'd said. And then I wanted to put his hand on my body, anywhere, everywhere. I loved him.

_Yeah,_ said a voice in my head. _But about him do you love? How do you know this isn't some façade and he's trying to hide something from you? Hiding behind the imprint._

Ah, crap. Seeing as how my head had just made a valid point, I averted my eyes and cleared my throat. I heard him clear his throat and then start moving around the room. Quickly, he put up all of our things, even the stuff in my bag. Once he was done, he took a pair of jeans and tank from the closet, and closed the door behind him. A minute later, the shower turned on.

Before I could even sigh again, there was a loud knock on the door.

"Go away," I said to the ceiling.

The knock came again, only louder.

"I said, go away!"

That knock became a pounding that made the wood rattle on its hinges.

Growling, I got up off the bed and jerked the damn door open. "What?!" I screamed into Caden's angry face.

His hand shoved up between us, Jacob's mother's ring in his fingers. "What the hell is this doing off your finger? And why the hell are there sheets and a pillow on the damn couch?"

I crossed my arms over my stomach, clenched my jaw, and looked away from him. "I don't see how that's any of your business."

He growled deep in his chest and pushed past me into the room. I watched as he went into my closet and came out with a pair of jeans and one of Jacob's old hoodies. When I refused to take them from him, he narrowed his eyes, gripped my arm, and dragged me out of the room.

"Fine," he growled. "Freeze."

"What do you think you're doing?" I demanded, struggling. "Get your hands off me."

When we got to the stairs, I had to quit struggling or I'd fall and break something. But when we got to the bottom, I dug my heels into the floor. He didn't even hesitate as my skin squeaked on the wood. The whole time, though, he didn't hurt me at all. His grip was gentle as silk covered steal. Soft yet unbreakable. As he dragged me through the living room, Leah jumped up off the couch in alarm.

"Stay here, love. We'll be back in a while."

She looked as if she wanted to argue, but decided not to when he gave her a reassuring look. I glared at her as we passed. She shrugged apologetically. When we got to the kitchen, Seth and Shelby were standing next to the table and wouldn't meet my eyes.

"Open that door for me, would you?"

My jaw dropped when Shelby leaned forward and opened the door. A blast of cold air shot into the room and nailed me in the ass. So that's why he handed me some clothes. We were heading outside one way or another. As soon as we were out of the house and into the woods a little, he slung me around to face him and threw the clothes at me.

Shivering so bad that it felt like my teeth were chipping off, I pulled on the warm clothes while he listened for the door to close before he started in on me.

Once that door clicked shut, that glare was back on me.

"Explain yourself," he demanded. "Explain to me why this ring was on the coffee table. Why there were sheets on the couch. And why Jacob looks like a bloke that's had his heart ripped out while he was wide awake."

In a state of self-defense, I crossed my arms over my stomach and repeated what I'd told him earlier. "Again, I fail to see how that's any of your business."

He surged forward and gripped me by my upper arms, bringing me face-to-face with his aggression.

"Jacob is a good man and doesn't deserve this. And you're a good woman who doesn't deserve it. But by the looks of it, you were the antagonist. Now, Shelby said that you wouldn't talk to her. And as I recall, I helped you and your male get together the first time you let your temper and head get in the damn way. So talk to me."

When he eased me back to the ground, I swallowed hard. And told him what I'd told Shelby. "I questioned, and still do, his love for me, ok?"

The man looked at me like I'd grown a very grotesque second head. "Why the hell would you do that?"

Hugging myself, I turned to look into the trees. "He said something that struck me as odd. Something that was actually just in passing. Something he didn't even think about when he said it."

When Caden's voice came, it was softer than it had been earlier. "What was it, love?"

"He'd made a stupid comment about how he didn't deserve me and that I should have hated him all this time. I should have made him work for us to be together. That I should have made him work to be the person he was before." I took a deep shaky breath that puffed out in a white cloud.

"And that last one is what's making you draw away from him, isn't it?"

Another deep breath. "Caden, I feel like I don' know him at all. I'm in love with the Jacob that I do know. But is this a front? Does he not want me to know who he was…is? And that leads me to think that he may not love me at all beyond the imprint."

"What do you mean?"

"He hated me. Before I was born and after I was born. I was killing Mom and in the end, I did kill her. And he was in love with her. My guess would be that he'd meant to run off after her heart stopped beating, but he didn't make it out the door before meeting my eyes and imprinting…against his will, Caden. He wanted nothing to do with me. And every time we're together, he-he runs away from me suddenly, like he's just realized what he's doing. He runs off into the bathroom to take care of himself so that I don't see how his body involuntarily reacts."

Gentle but firm hands gripped my shoulders. "Stop, Nessie. Just stop."

He turned me to him and held me against his chest. And that was my breaking point. I wept and it was messy. Nothing like in my bedroom. This time, I was loud, letting my heartbreak out on the wind. And the entire time, Caden held me to him and rocked me.

When the door opened, he didn't even turn. "We're fine. Go back inside." He stroked my back. "Nessie, I wish there was something I could say to make you realize that you're wrong. I see your point, I really do. But the past needs to stay in the past. Let me explain something to you, something you may not understand because you haven't gone through it."

He walked us over to a fallen tree. Sitting me down on it, he pressed my back into a still-standing tree that was perpendicular to it. A moment later, his thumbs came up to wipe my tears away.

"Listen to me, Ness." He dipped his head down so that he could meet my eyes. "Are you listening?" When I nodded, he continued. "Nessie, pay attention to what I'm about to say. If you do, it may help you to understand your mate better." Those heavy hands rested on my shoulders again. "People change." My eyes found his and he nodded. "People change. Their attitudes, demeanors, the way they think. If something traumatic happens to them, it can change a person. After you went through what you did back in November, you were stronger. We all could see it in the set of your shoulders. And your eyes held a strength that hadn't been there before. It told the world that you had been through something that could have taken your life, but instead, you survived it. That is a strength that nobody would fight. And Jacob is no different. From stories I've heard, his life was no walk in the park. But also from what I've heard, he's become a better man from being with you, because of you."

To that speech, there was nothing I could say. I was calm for the first time in a couple days. My heart and stomach stayed still, went back to their normal tasks instead of torturing me.

Caden nodded as if he knew that my scrambled brain and heart had finally chilled out and started to think. I'd just come out of the emotional haze. Just as he'd done to me before when he'd found me crying in the woods and told me to actually think about everything. When I'd told him I was, he'd said I wasn't, was just crying instead, being emotional. That's what he was doing now. And again, it worked.

Sighing, I followed him back into the house. Shelby was at the stove making breakfast while Seth wasn't too far away, leaning on the counter next to her. His eyes kept roaming her body, landing on her stomach. I listened hard, but all I could hear was the sizzle of the bacon in the pan she was bent over.

"I'm gonna go take a shower before breakfast, ok?" I said to them. They both nodded and smiled at me encouragingly.

Lost in my thoughts, I went to my room, grabbed some random clothes and went for the bathroom. What I hadn't anticipated was the steam that escaped from the room when I opened the door or the sound of a shocked shout.

The shout made me jump and I looked up to find Jacob standing there, frozen, with a white towel over his wet hair. Without my permission, my eyes left his and roamed his body.

Yup, he was naked. Gloriously naked. The overhead light gleamed on his still-wet skin, dancing on the water. My eyes traveled the tall length of him. His thick neck was tensed up. Heavy shoulders bunched around his ears. The bulk of his arms was flexed as they were lifted above his head to dry his hair. His broad chest with the mark that I'd left on it elegantly drew down to the V of his tight hips. For once I was able to see the finish of those sharp lines that started just above his hip bones and traveled down, down, down to the juncture of his heavy thighs. The skin was darker there, the color his cheeks turned when he blushed. Not a red, but a darker tan than his normal coloring. And my eyes bulged a little at the size of him. Without a doubt he was proportional to his body.

But I hadn't known I was smiling until the smile wiped off my face in a moment of realization. He was utterly limp. Him knowing that I was looking at him and wanting him didn't do it for him. He truly didn't want me.

Blushing, I averted my eyes to his feet and the floor.

"Uh, Nessie, you wanna close that door?" His tone was irritated.

My blood boiled with embarrassment. "Sorry," I snapped. "I forgot it's not me that you _really_ want. I'm just what the imprint wants."

With that I closed the door with a solid click, ran into my room, slammed and locked the door, and, pressing my back to it, slid to the floor. Wrapping my arms around my knees, I started to tremble.

A moment later there was a firm knock on the door. When I didn't answer, the doorknob rattled.

Another knock came as Jacob's voice said, "Nessie, open up."

A fresh wave of tears filled and spilled over onto my cheeks, rushing for my chin and neck, falling onto my chest.

The knob rattled again. But this time, the knock wasn't as gentle. "Renesmee, open this door." His voice was all command expecting to be obeyed. I didn't. This time, when the pound on the door came, I felt the vibrations in my back and all the way to my feet. "Goddammit, Nessie, open this damn door, or so help me…" He took a deep breath and let it out on a growl. "You know what? Fine. We'll play this fucking game your way."

The fury in his voice surprised me so much that my tears dried up immediately and a curious sense of relief washed over me. This. This was what I had sensed he'd been talking about. Everybody had kept saying how much of a dominant Jacob was but I'd never really seen it. All I'd seen was a type of devotion and kindness. Dominant males in any species were aggressive, yet he rarely showed any of that fierce aggression. He'd never minded any other males around me. Sure, the pack was his family, but should he really have been ok with any unmated males hanging out with me? And he'd just shown me that he didn't really want to mate with me. Every time his erection had pressed against my body, his eyes had been elsewhere on my body, not my eyes. So he was attracted to me from the waist down, no doubt picturing that I was my mother.

Wiping away the remnants of my crying jag, I got up off the floor and grabbed my clothes. I'd heard Jacob stomp off and his scent had dissipated, telling me that he hadn't come back. Still, I hesitantly opened the door, sniffing the air that rushed in. When nothing hit me, I peeked out into the hall. Nothing.

Two huge leaps across the hall and I was in the bathroom. Shower. I so needed a shower.

**ShelbyPOV**

Seth and I shared a look as we heard doors slam, Jacob's fist on the wood, and him yelling. The next thing I knew, his anger boiled into the kitchen long before he did. Jacob was good and pissed off. His eyes were black, not looking right in his tanned skin, and he stalked into the room like a male that owned the world and the one thing he truly wanted was disobeying him.

Fear crawled around the bottom of my stomach and made its way into my brain. Now this was the Alpha that I had seen lurking under his skin. The Alpha that knew he had power of all of his pack, power that could destroy on a whim or build the tightest of relationships. This was the man that walked into a room full of other men who, as soon as they took one look at him, backed out of his way immediately and stared at the floor until he passed out of respect.

Seth stayed close to me as Jake went for the kitchen door.

"I'm going down to the rez for the rest of the day. I have to make my rounds. Call me if she needs anything." His words were short, clipped, and involved no ifs ands or buts. Jacob looked at no one as he strode out the door. It was a shock when the thing closed gently.

I sighed. Even when he was pissed off with her, he cared for Nessie. Why couldn't she see it?

I leaned into Seth as he pulled me into his arms. The Cullens were due back today. Edward and Jasper would certainly know something was up. And if Jacob was close, Edward would be able to see into both of their minds unless Nessie was shielding. But I didn't think that she would able to concentrate enough to put that block in place.

Shaking myself, I went back to making breakfast just as Caden, Leah, and Morgan came into the room. It was odd to see Morgan in the house. She usually preferred to be outside or on the rez.

Her sharp, pale eyes took in the breakfast and all the people in the kitchen. Her nostrils flared a little and her head cocked to the side. After a moment of studying her surroundings, those eyes narrowed.

"Where's Jacob?" she demanded in that soft scary tone.

I cleared my throat. "Uh, he went down to the rez to make his rounds."

"Without Nessie?" I saw an eyebrow cock out of the corner of my eye and then focused on the bacon again.

I nodded. "Yeah. She's, uh…I mean, they're-" I threw the fork on the counter. Why the hell was I stuttering? "For godsakes, they're having issues, ok?"

Both of her eyebrows rose in surprise. Whether it was at my tone or the news, I didn't know nor care. As I turned back to making breakfast and tried not to cry, silence enveloped the room.

"I think I'll go catch up with him," she murmured. A moment later the kitchen door opened and closed quietly.

**SethPOV**

Once Shelby and I put all the bowls and plates on the table, I pulled her into the living room. She was in no condition to play hostess. Her eyes were tearing up and her hands were shaking so bad that I was surprised the food hadn't ended up on the floor.

Sitting down on one of the sofas, I pulled her onto my lap. She pressed her face into my neck, releasing a breath that shuddered. As I stroked her back, her body shook even more.

"I know, sweetie. Them not being together is, like, the end of the world. So much is wrong with the universe if those two are apart. But…they'll fix whatever's broken. They have to."

Slowly, she leaned back and wiped at her face angrily. "This is such bullshit. She's such a pain in the ass."

My eyebrows did a handshake with my hairline. "What?"

"Nessie. This is all her fault."

"How do you figure?"

Her slender fingers came up to trace my lips. "What fool woman would question a man's love for her? She's never questioned him before. I don't understand why she's doing it now. Take us, for example. I know next to nothing how you were before you first phased. I don't know whether there were ever other girls, or how you were in your teenage years. Everybody goes through transitions, though, where they change perspectives and whatnot. And you'll tell me when you're good and damned ready. Trying to force you to tell me would only push you away. And I won't do that. I love the Seth I know. The Seth I know takes care of me, makes sure I'm ok, and would never intentionally hurt me. The same goes with Jacob. He's never given her reason to pull this crap. And it's stupid. Beyond stupid."

When she was done with her rant, she collapsed against my chest, breathing hard. My hands kept with their jobs of stroking up and down her back and sides. We just sat there for a while, listening to Caden and Leah eat and thinking about the giant cluster of crap that had gotten entangled in our happy-go-lucky strings of life.

And Shelby was right. This time around, it was Nessie. Sure, we all understood about her reaction to when she'd originally found out about imprinting, but this? This was over the top dramatic. It was times like this that I wish I was like Edward. To know exactly what she was thinking would be a helpful way to try to talk to her. But then again, this was their problem, not mine or Shelby's. Shelby was trying to be a good friend and help, but really Jacob and Nessie needed to clean up the gallon of milk that she'd dropkicked across the room. Yeah it was everywhere, and it would take more than just paper towels to clean up. It was going to take one big ass mop and a completely fresh jug of milk.

Suddenly, I was tired. Rubbing my eyes, I mentally kicked myself. I was comparing my best friend and his mate to jugs of milk.

Man, this bump in the road was turning out to be a giant sinkhole.

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**Yeah, it's short. I'm sorry. But hey, at least it's new. And as always, I love you guys lots. So please review. I love "hearing" what you have to say. xoxoxoxoxoxo**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello, chapter 8! Again this one might be a little short, but I feel that it's pretty packed with a nice punch. And as you can see, a new POV! Now, I love Morgan. She's a favorite of mine. *big breath* Soooo, I have decided to give you guys a lemon. Next chapter. So look forward to chapter 9. It's the golden one...if I can write right. Wish me luck on that. I'll need it.**

***Disclaimer here***

**Please Enjoy!**

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**MorganPOV**

Stepping out of the house, I took a deep breath. The air was cold and felt like an icepick in my chest. It was nice. Let me know that I was still alive. Also let me know that Jacob had used that door to leave the house…and he was pissed off. Beyond pissed off. Usually anger was warm, fury was hot, but rage? Rage was utterly cold. Cold was what his scent was in my nose. He'd cut himself off from his other emotions. I knew what that was like.

Following that cold draft, I kept my human form. The run would help me stretch a little, work me out. The woods were quiet. That was usual when Jacob entered the outdoor world. It was like nature knew he was the king of the woods, even if he wouldn't acknowledge it.

Stupid idiot. He thought he was just another one of us, but that wasn't true, was it? Absolutely not. He was bursting with aggression. And again, he kept it under wraps. Sure, Seth, Sam, and Paul were dominants, but they weren't Alphas. That belonged solely to Jacob. And that Alpha-ness was like an extra layer of testosterone that made other big human men feel puny…as they should.

Well, that actually hadn't been the case lately. He'd been chained, collared, leashed. Ever since he'd gotten with Nessie as in relationship, he'd become soft. Used to be, nobody would question him. Now, more and more of us were looking to Seth, who had kept his head and objectives after imprinting on Shelby, whom I actually liked. Don't get me wrong, Nessie was great and she took care of us, but there was still a soft innocence to her even after what happened back in November. She didn't quite understand that she wasn't the queen. Though she was supposed to be Jake's mate, he still had his power even over her. Though clearly he'd allowed her to influence him into pansy territory. And it was all really starting to piss me off. He was a male, a man, and he was our leader, born Alpha. He should be allowed his aggression without fear of hurting poor Nessie's feelings. If she couldn't deal, then he'd imprinted on the wrong gal.

Of course, fate had a tendency to fuck us all over…multiple times. But the point was Jacob loved Nessie. And she loved him. Whatever their problems were, they needed to get over them otherwise the pack would fall apart. Seth was a damned fine second, but he wasn't Alpha. Alphas had acute instincts, and as much as I loved Seth, his weren't near what Jacob's were.

It wasn't long before I was on the road that led into the rez. Jacob was walking, so he could be anywhere by now. His rounds were always random so that people wouldn't pick up on his patterns and change their ways long enough to pacify him. So with that happy little knowledge, I stopped, closed my eyes, and inhaled deeply.

"What are you doing here?" a low voice growled behind me.

Automatically my head went down as did my eyes. "Jacob. Alpha."

"I really wish you'd stop that."

A shiver shimmied its way down my spine. "You are equivalent to a king for us. How could I not show respect?"

The growl that came was frustrated. "I asked you a question, Morgan."

I sighed. "You shouldn't make your rounds alone. I can smell your anger. Your head isn't level enough to deal with our people alone."

"And yours is?" he growled

Well, didn't that just hurt my feelings. My body jerked as if he'd just punched me in the stomach. Yeah, sure, I wasn't always a happy camper, but I could be civil. And it hurt to think that he thought so little of me. I'd never known Jake to have this kind of temper. But in his normal anger, he was quick to flip his lid if anybody so much as sneezed in his direction. With this new mood? I wasn't even sure I was supposed to be breathing.

Those hurt feelings didn't last long. My own version of anger came boiling up, ready for a fight.

"Fine," I growled. "You wanna throw shit? We'll throw." Turning to face him, we came nose to nose. The one thing my bastard father had gifted me with was his height. "You're the Alpha of this little family. I'm not. I don't have to have a level head. And yours is so far up your ass you can wear your intestines as a frickin' necklace. You need to grow a pair and quit letting your female control how you run things. You're too fucking nice about everything. Man the fuck up!"

His growl came up from his gut. "Don't you dare bring Nessie into this!"

"Why not? She's the reason you tip-toe. Ever since the two of you became a couple, it's like she threw a choke-collar on you. Haven't you figured out that the pack needs you, too? What happened to all the pack gatherings that we used to have?" Sticking my hand on my hip, I tapped my chin in false thinking. "Oh, right. You're too busy getting all over her, getting her and yourself hot, and then running away like a fourteen year old girl."

And then, I had an enormous moment of stupidity. I slapped his chest, right on the spot where Nessie had sucked his skin and marked her as his own. An empty token of belonging. His body jerked in surprise at the contact, his eyes flaring. It was stupid, but I had a point to make, so I pressed my advantage.

"You think that mark means something?" A laugh devoid of any humor left my throat. "It means nothing, Jacob. You think that they mean that you belong to each other? Wake up, Jacob!" I spread my arms out from my body. "We're animals. Wolves. We haven't been human for years, and we have instincts. Nessie doesn't truly belong to you, and for that matter you don't truly belong to her, until you seal the deal. Until you have sex, she's still unmated in our world. I don't know what the fuck is going on between the two of you, but we're going to fall apart fast without at least one of our Alphas with their head out of their ass. Both you and Nessie are in head fucks right now, and Seth is performing beautifully as second, but that crap can't last long. So on behalf of the pack, jack up your big girl panties and show our alpha female who the hell is boss!"

Jacob's surprise turned to a blank face with an eyebrow raised as I breathed hard. Looking around, I saw that we'd gathered a crowd. Kids with soccer balls, moms with babies on their hips, store owners, and girls with jump ropes had all stopped to gather at the sidewalk.

"Are you done?" he asked in a dead tone.

The anger came back full force. "Even if I weren't, you wouldn't listen to me. Now, are we going to walk the rounds or are you going to keep staring at me with that damned eyebrow raised?"

He turned his back on me and started down the street. "You aren't coming."

Grinning without amusement, I followed. "You can dismiss me all you like, but I'm coming with."

"Not if I order you."

"So order me, then. Go on."

He whirled around and glared at me, mouth open. Closed it. Opened it. Growled and turned away.

"That's what I thought." Weakness. Utter weakness. He couldn't even give an order when he wanted to be alone. For self-preservation.

Jacob's broad back stiffened. There was no time to brace myself before he spun around, came at me, gripped my upper arms in a tight grip, and pulled me to his face. He rip-shit pissed as he pulled me close enough to touch eyeballs.

"Order you? I won't take someone's free will away from them. Never. I know what it's like to have it taken away from me. If I wasn't who I was or embraced who I was, Bella and Nessie would be dead. Sam and the rest of the pack would have killed them both, and I would have helped them. You think I like knowing that I had to pick the lesser evil? You think I like living each day and watching Nessie grow every day that I would have helped kill her? The woman I love?" He shoved me away in disgust. "Don't you ever take for granted the fact that I don't use that little present on my pack."

Dear God, I hadn't thought about that. If he hadn't embraced the role of Alpha, Sam would have ordered him and the entire pack, including Seth, to go after the Cullens.

"Jacob, I'm sorry. You obviously have your reasons for not using that tool, and now, I respect you for it. I'm sorry that I didn't before. But I know why your leadership is slipping." When his eyes narrowed, I took that to mean, _continue._ I took a deep breath and did just that. "Your wolf is dying to take her, to make her alpha female for real. Once you do that and mark her as your own, I have a feeling you won't have the need to constantly be around her."

His dark eyes glared at me as he shook his head, growling. That look of disgust was back. Man, I just couldn't say the right things tonight. Turning on his heel, he started back down the road.

Gathering my courage and taking my own advice of growing a pair, I jogged and planted my feet in front of him. Thankfully, he stopped instead of pushing me out of the way like I knew he wanted to.

"Wait, Jacob. Please hear me out."

Lips pressed into a slash, he crossed his massive arms and lifted that eyebrow again.

Swallowing hard, I continued. "Look, I've been paying attention to the differences between you and Seth when we're all phased together. When Seth first met Shelby, he was all over her, constantly thinking about her. Nothing ever took his mind off her. That all changed after they'd had sex for the first time. He _knew_ she was his then, and suddenly, he was back to thinking about the welfare of the pack and you. But you? You're still stuck in the obsessive part. Unfortunately, it's making you a pansy. In all honesty, we've started turning to Seth. You've been making quick decisions just to get back to her. The other day with that slaughter? You cleaned it up and haven't thought of it since. Nessie, Nessie, Nessie. That's all you've been thinking about and obsessing over. If you'd done the horizontal tango with her already, you'd have been more interested in a pack search party of that scent than grumbling about Nessie all up in your head. It's affecting every decision you make, and it's starting to topple the pack."

When I was finished, we just stood there, breathing at each other. I was talking so fast that I wasn't sure that I'd actually taken a breath. My chest was heaving as our eyes stayed locked.

After a moment, he leaned forward to say quietly so prying ears wouldn't hear, "You're telling me to just fuck her to make the pack happy."

I quickly shook my head. "No, that's not what I'm saying at all. I'm asking you to treat her as a woman and I guarantee she'll treat you as a man. Take her, make love to her, be good to her, and I doubt she'll question your love for her. Frankly, we're all wondering why it hasn't happened yet. And no, it's not our business, but again, we can't help but wonder."

Aaaaaand, it was time for me to shut my face. Clamping my lips shut, I just stood there and looked around. Jacob's eyes did the same. He nodded to people here and there, before those dark eyes landed on me.

"You're right. It's none of your business."

My shoulders tensed for the lashing I was about to get.

But it never came. He took a deep breath through his nose and said, "And you're also right that it's a pack problem. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. And right now, Nessie and I are weak. I'll think about things as we walk our rounds."

When my eyes flashed to him in surprise, I found him smiling a little. He jerked his head toward the people standing around watching us.

Stuffing my inner girl back into her cage, I squared my shoulders and plastered a bored expression onto my face as I followed him into the crowd, as if I were his guard.

**JPOV**

Damn. Morgan's little scream-fest had drawn a crowd, but she'd been right. Her comparison of me and Seth had sealed the damn deal. I didn't like it, but there it was. All this time I'd been denying that the wolf and I were one being. Unfortunately, we were, and he needed her. That's why things had been strained. We'd been together, but not belonging to the other. The marks we'd given each other had helped calm the animal part of me, but now he wanted something more. He wanted to get inside of her, mark her in other places, roll around on top of her to make my scent as permanent on her as a tattoo would be.

And I wanted it, too.

When she'd walked in on me in the bathroom earlier, there had been no embarrassment in her eyes as she looked me over. Heat had come from her body, as hot as the steam that had billowed around us. She'd wanted me. And no doubt when my body hadn't reacted to the fact that she was seeing me naked for the first time ever because I was surprised, she'd taken that as me not wanting her in return. Which absolutely wasn't true. Her stare had told me everything I needed to know. And even after she'd taken off in a fit, my body decided to get with the program. I'd hardened so fast it was painful and erotic as hell at the same time. All I'd wanted was to go to her room, strip off the towel around my hips, strip her clothes off, and make love to her. There had been no thoughts of her parents, the other Cullens, or Seth and Shelby. She'd been all I could think about, which was a first.

It had occurred to me that even though she'd always been on my mind, the worry of Edward and Bella had always been there, too. But it in that moment, I was pretty sure I wouldn't have even noticed if they'd been in the room when I'd taken their daughter to bed.

Daughter. The word that had always caught me. It was such a daddy's girl word. Not a woman word. Nessie really wasn't a girl anymore. She was a woman. Morgan had been right in telling me that I was running.

Well, no more of that shit. Nessie and I were going to a have a talk. Hopefully before I ravished her. My wolf was having too much fun envisioning her underneath my body, completely naked, skin flushed, breathing hard.

Rotating my neck and shoulders, I tried to get rid of the tightness that came with the visions of me over her, supporting my weight on my arms as I moved against her, inside her.

"Jake?" Morgan asked softly.

I shook my head a little. "I'm good."

She stepped back away from me as we performed our meet-n-greets with the tribe. I went back to scanning the crowd, nodding and smiling. There was one person I was looking for. And stupidly enough, I was looking down instead of up.

"Jake!" a voice called.

Looking up, I found who I was looking for. Grinning, I stepped forward to slap palms and shoulders with Lucas. "What's up, man? Damn, you got big."

He grinned and blushed. "Dad says it's a growth spurt."

I chuckled. "I'll say."

The kid had been only around five foot eight a couple months ago. Now, he was nearly my height. And he'd started with hitting the gym, bulking up what had probably been lean muscle on his tight frame. But in a way, he now fit his features. His wavy black hair hung in his face over deep set chocolate eyes. And unlike him, I knew this wasn't just a growth spurt. He was about to phase. Given his mood, though, it wasn't going to be next week. He was still peppy. Usually it was anger or fear that brought on the change. With me, it had been anger. Billy had just told me that I'd looked weird and I'd nearly ripped him apart by phasing in the damn kitchen. Maybe it could just be a timing thing, though. Lucas was a good kid. It was hard to believe he'd gain a short temper the way I had. From what I knew, he didn't have the stressor of a girl or any family issues to spark an anger session to trigger the phase.

With our palms still clapped together, I pulled him closer to me, my eyes serious but smile still in place. "Listen, you're about to go through some hardcore change. You need anything or feel anything weird, call me, ok? And nothing is too weird or mundane to call over."

He pulled back a little to study me. His eyes went over my body and came back to my eyes. In a rush of understanding, his widened. He leaned in again. "Will I be like you?"

I nodded. "Yeah. It'll be rough, but we'll get you through it."

I felt him nod against my ear. "Aweso-whoa."

"What?" I asked , pulling back.

He didn't answer and I followed his stare. Morgan. He was looking at Morgan. No, not looking. More like salivating over. What got me, though, was that it wasn't entirely sexual. It was more reverent. What made me grin was that Morgan was staring right back at him as if he were an old lover, one that she was actually in love with.

Awesome. Another imprinted couple.

Rolling my eyes, I nodded her over. The expressions crossing her features ranged from love, to confused, over to denial, plummeted to anger, and then went on repeat back to love. Love and denial were the winners of the couple's tug-of-war. She knew she'd just imprinted, but wasn't quite ok with the idea.

"Morgan, this is Lucas. Lucas, Morgan."

When Morgan didn't offer her hand, Lucas didn't either. They just stared at each other.

"How old are you?" she asked. Her voice sounded as if somebody had taken sandpaper to her throat.

"Nineteen," he said.

She swallowed hard. "Well, at least you're legal."

When he looked confused, I leaned in. "It's a wolf thing. But pretty much, you just became her universe."

"Did not," she said weakly.

He looked between us, startled. "What, like, insta-love?" he asked with a blush.

That made me chuckle. "Kind of, but not really. There's a connection there. You can either choose to build it up or let it just stand there. But whether she likes it or not, she'll be drawn to you."

"Like she doesn't get a choice?"

Sighing, I rubbed my eyes. Oh, this was a great conversation. Especially with Morgan looking like she'd like to throttle him, but wouldn't dare so she'd settle with me. Perfect.

"Let's put it this way. She'd never hurt you, but what just happened wasn't her choice. However, _you_ get the choice of whether you want to try for something between you. Unless, of course, there's another girl in your life."

The growl that came out of Morgan was so vicious that the whole sidewalk took a few steps back. Lucas just stared at her like she had some sexy clothes on, the heat plain in those dark eyes. Calmly, I put a hand on her shoulder.

"Sorry," she whispered. That growl was still there.

"I thought it was beautiful," Lucas said. His eyes hadn't left her yet.

Morgan shook her hair over her shoulders to try to hide the blush while I rolled my eyes again.

"Hey, stay here, ok? I'll be right back." Lucas turned on his heel and ran in the direction of his father's flower shop. No doubt he was going to grab something dark and exotic for her.

As the crowd dispersed, I leaned over to Morgan's ear. "You stay here with him. I'm going to go over to Sam's. Need to talk to him."

Her eyes shot to me in a panic. "You can't leave me with him, Jake. I don't do relationships."

I chuckled. "You do now. You'll always be drawn to him." I leaned to her ear again. "And now you're going to obsess until you get him between the sheets. Remember our little conversation a while ago? Yeah, you are now me. Good luck."

With that, I walked off toward Sam's house.

**RPOV**

I was back to staring at the pictures. Again, it was sometime in the afternoon. This time, I'd gone down on my own to eat lunch with the others. My conversation with Caden had helped. _The past needs to stay in the past_. That was true, and I completely agreed. But it didn't keep me from wondering what was in Jacob's past that had caused him pain or hell or both? What had caused him to change? To slather a mask over himself? How bad had things gotten for him?

As I got busy chewing my lip off, a knock came at my door effectively saving its life. "Yeah? Come on in."

The door opened a bit and Leah stuck her head in. "Hey. I was hoping you were awake."

I nodded, my hands stroking over the long plait of braided hair that was slung over my shoulder. "Yeah, I'm just thinking over what everybody has been telling me. You have a smart mate."

Her grin was equal parts proud and loving. "Absolutely. He's great." The smile dimmed a little. "But, hey, I was wondering if I might be able to give you something else to think about."

Sighing, I dug my palms into the floor and pushed myself higher up into a sitting position. "Honestly, Leah, I don't know if I can handle any more talks."

Coming in all the way and closing the door behind her, she came over to sit-forgive the pun- Indian-style next to me.

"I don't want to talk at you and tell you all the ways that you and Jake are being stupid. A long time ago, I yelled at your mother for hurting Jacob. It wasn't my place and I was rude about it. But what I came here to tell you is something that I'm pretty sure will make you understand Jacob."

That had me at attention. Anything to help me come to a conclusion about what to do would be points in my favor. I nodded for her to continue.

"It's a story, Nessie. His story. Now, I need you to remember something. He loves you. Plain and simple. But there are things that I'm going to tell you that will make you want to recoil from him. However, in order for you to understand him, you need to understand his past. Do you think you can handle that?"

I sat there for a good few minutes thinking about it. By the tone of her voice, some of the things she was going to tell me would break my heart. No doubt about it. But they were obviously things to help me understand Jacob. And though the past really did need to stay there, there were always exceptions to rules. This was an exception. Someone was offering me what I needed, what I craved.

Nodding, I was going to take it.

About an hour later, I sat there in numb silence. I'd been right. My heart had broken…multiple times. Jacob's life had had the dramatic lows and highs of a movie, a carefully written novel thought out and performed by fate. And I fell in love with him all over again, even though he was now a different man in my eyes. All these years that he'd been at my side had truly made him happy, according to Leah. And she could get into his head when they were in wolf form. She knew his thoughts.

His every thought was me, if I was ok, or if he'd taken things too far with me. Fate had been a cruel mistress, putting him through a fabricated love and heartbreak just to keep him near my mother for the sake of meeting me. For the sake of imprinting on me. Fate had put two soul mates together at the cost of the pain of one of them. So much pain Jacob had gone through just to wait for me. Pain that I really couldn't comprehend in the slightest.

Hearing Leah's story, I realized that my life was utterly perfect.

"Nessie?" Leah's voice drifted over to me in a whisper.

Slowly, my eyes focused and I met hers. "Yeah?"

Her hand touched my knee. "You ok?"

I couldn't help but swallow hard. Her voice brought me back into my room and out of my head to the point that I realized the pain in my palm was coming from my nails digging into the meat of my hand.

I blinked fast. "Uh, um, yeah. It's just a lot to take in."

She nodded as if she understood.

"I see him differently."

"That was the point, Nessie. You had this picture perfect Jake. He's been through so much and with you and your growth, he got scrambled over the whole imprint thing. You have to understand that he's still struggling with that. It's not that he doesn't want you." She made a push away gesture with her hands. "Trust me, I _know_ how badly he wants you. Even though he covers the thoughts of you, I can still feel the echo of the ache in his body, even with him…relieving…himself."

"But…" I whispered. This was the one thought that I just couldn't get over. "He wanted to kill me."

She shifted uncomfortably next to me. "I'm not gonna lie. That's what he went back into the house to do that night. But honestly, I don't think that it was the urge to kill that pulled him back into the house."

"You don't?"

Leah shook her head, her short hair falling out from behind her ear. Pushing it back, she scooted so that her back was against the bed again.

"The night that I imprinted on Caden, there was this tugging in my gut, this pull that was pushing me to the door to go outside. I didn't know what it was, but I followed my instincts knowing full well that the 'meeting' with Caden was going down outside. And then, lo and behold, there was Caden. That moment I saw my future clearly for the first time in my life…and I loved it. That night that Jacob went to…find you, I think he was feeling the pull, but he was too caught up in his grief to realize what it was. The pull had transferred from Bella to you. He hadn't felt the drive to go up and pump vampire venom into her blood to even have her back as a vampire. He was just so caught up in…murderous…thoughts of you, pulled toward you that Bella no longer existed to him. That was the imprint, fate, pulling him to you with a mask of homicidal rage. The same happened to me. The moment that tug hit me, Sam was no longer there. I was being pulled toward Caden. And honestly, even if Jacob hadn't imprinted, I don't believe he would have killed you."

"You don't?" Wasn't that my phrase for the night?

Again, she shook her head. "Nope. Honestly, if the imprint hadn't pulled him in, I doubt he'd have gone back in to even look at you. I think he would have just run off to have nothing to do with any of the Cullens. But _he was meant to see you_, Nessie. I don't know how else to tell you that. But that's what I believe."

I was about to answer her, when there was a sharp knock on the door. Needing to get up and move my stiff limbs, I got up to answer it. And wished I hadn't.

On the other side was my very angry father. He just stood there, glaring at me. His eyes were once again a gorgeous topaz gold, but instead of their usual loving warmth, they were full of warm anger.

"What is wrong with you?" he bit out between clenched teeth.

Flinching away from his cold tone, I backed away from the door. "Wha-,"

"You just can't stand being happy, can you? Is that it? Is that why you always cause drama? That man," he said, pointing to somewhere further out than down the hall. "That man loves you. He could have died saving you in that fire. Jacob is a good man with a good heart."

And all of a sudden, anger bubbled up in me. So many people were always in my business. Leah was the one who'd given me what I'd truly needed to see clearly. The others had been weightless thoughts to bounce around my head.

"I had to know if he loved me beyond the imprint, _dad_."

He growled and stalked into my room. Leah came to stand beside me, her body rigid and tight, ready to step in.

"You are so blind! Let me explain something to you, Nessie. Imprinting is like speed dating for soul mates. It's one of the best assets of the wolves because it allows you to pass all the frivolous prospects of having to go through dating and falling in love. You get all you need in one look. Also, no matter if it hadn't existed or he hadn't imprinted then, it still would have happened."

My father had never yelled at me in my nine years. And now he was a roaring presence in my room, making me feel positively tiny. Wrapping my arms around my torso, my anger left me as I huddled into myself.

"What would have happened?" I whispered.

"Love. You would have still fallen in love. It just would have taken longer. You got the best deal out of life and you're just going to throw it away because you're not sure that it's the _right_kind of love?! Love is love in all its many forms. There are humans, wolves, and vampires alike that would kill to have what you have with him. What is wrong with you? I didn't raise you to throw away the gifts that life gives you. A man loves you and would protect you with his own life. How can you be so ungrateful like that?"

I was crying while he was breathing hard from telling me what a brat I was as Uncle Emmett came up to wrap his arms around him to pull him into the hallway. Uncle Jasper wasn't far behind, his mental gift aimed more toward Dad than me.

"You are such an ungrateful drama queen, Renesmee. And right now, you don't deserve him." With that, Uncle Emmett dragged Dad down the hallway with a hand clapped over his mouth.

Mom appeared in my doorway, watching them with shock written all over her face. And then she turned to me, holding my heart in with hands that trembled as tears streamed down my face. When she came to me with her arms spread out wide, I dodged past her and darted into the hall.

Going for the stairs, I knew I couldn't stay in this house. I needed isolation. And I knew just where to go.

**MorganPOV**

The nearly black rose that Lucas had just handed me smelled like Christmas. Heavenly. It reminded me of cold, snowy nights huddled next to the fire watching as the world turned white with a cup of hot chocolate in my hands.

The strange thing was I could picture Lucas there with me. The image I got was of us on a pallet of blankets on the floor in front of the fire, cuddled up together.

Which was utterly gross. Blech. The girlie, Hallmark crap had never been me. But right now, smelling this wonderful rose, I wanted it. And I wanted it with him. Damn.

"It's beautiful," I muttered, hoping he didn't hear the blurt-out I hadn't approved.

But no such luck. When I looked up, he was grinning ear to ear.

"I think you're beautiful."

I damned myself for blushing. "Am not."

"Are, too. To me you are."

Taking a deep breath in on a growl, I looked everywhere else but at him. A group of guys in their mid-twenties passed us. When one of them met my eyes, I knew nothing good was going to come out of his mouth. Especially when he grinned like that.

"Hey, Lucas!" he called. "You better watch it with that one. She's a toad hopper. Literally."

The group laughed heartily and stalked off. The blush on my face couldn't be stopped, but it felt strange. I'd never been embarrassed about my love life before, but standing here in front of my imprint, I felt dirty compared to him.

"Go screw yourself, Zach!" Lucas yelled back. He looked at me and shook his head. "Don't worry about them. They're assholes."

Shaking my head, I held out the rose. "You know what? They're right. Here, take this back. There shouldn't be anything between us anyway. The imprint isn't a sure thing."

When I met his eyes, he was staring at me with a pity expression. Putting his hand over mine, he pushed the flower back to me.

"It's yours and I want you to have it. Look, I know about your reputation." My shot to his and he shrugged. "There's only one Morgan in the pack, and people talk. But in all honesty, I don't really care. They didn't mean anything to you, right?" When I shook my head, he continued. "And you didn't mean anything to them. No offense."

I thought about getting angry. Really, I did. If it had been anyone else, they would have ended up on the ground either swallowing or spitting out their teeth. But I was just too tired to fight the pull of him.

One finger came up to press under my chin to get me to look at him. "Have you eaten dinner yet?"

I shook my head. "No," I whispered.

His grin was bright in his permanently tan skin. "Great. I was going to fire up the grill. I make a mean stake. My second love is the kitchen."

Again, my mouth moved without my consent. "What's your first?"

He turned to me with a smile that told me I probably wouldn't like his answer. "The flowers for now. I plan on changing that."

Again, the blush rushed up my neck…and got worse when he reached back to take my hand in his.

Well, wasn't dinner going to be interesting.

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**Questions, concerns, comments, or feelings? Please review and let me know. Also if you want, feel free to PM me. I have no qualms reading and responding. Why? Cuz I love you guys! Now take a deep breath and ready yourself for the next chapter. xoxoxoxoxoxo**


	9. Chapter 9

**Ok, guys. Here it is. And I am quite nervous about it. I have been picturing this scene for ****_ages_****! Now, it is descriptive but not raunchy. The rating of M is definitely proper here. And please be nice in reviewing. This is my first lemon ever and I must say that I am quite proud of it.**

***Disclaimer here***

**Please Enjoy!**

* * *

**JPOV**

Seth had already told Sam about the deer. Which was good. Seth had his head on straight. But what kept me cranked up was Morgan. Man, she'd gone and imprinted. On Lucas. He was good for her. He'd be kind and patient but firm on where he stood, which was what she needed. She needed to know that good men still existed who weren't gay or taken.

But even with my good mood, I needed to get my game face back on. I wasn't about to have a happy-go-lucky expression on when meeting up with Nessie's fucked up perception of me. She wanted me to be the guy I was before, all dominating and shit? Well, I could do that. Of course, I felt like an ass, which I was. But Morgan was right. I was letting things slip, and Nessie was the cause. I was being too sweet. That sweet Jake that I'd once been had vanished when I'd first phased and for sure found out that Bella was in love with a vampire and hadn't returned even after imprinting on Nessie because of the pack. I'd only softened after Seth had started taking over some things for me while I spent time helping to raise Nessie. I was a dominant, alpha male. I was naturally aggressive. And if my mate wanted me to express myself, well, she was going to get what she wanted…on my terms.

After saying my last goodbyes to Sam, Emily, and Leila, I made my way back up to the Cullen house. As I went, more and more people watched me differently. They shifted on their feet, averted their eyes, and bowed from their necks.

What the-

Then Morgan's voice played in my head. The word _king_ bounced around my frontal lobe.

Hmmm, even humans, in their gut instincts, realized that I wasn't human. That I was something stronger, faster, and a lot more dangerous than they were. They realized that they were facing raw male, alpha power and would not be able to win in a confrontation with me. Even the larger men that worked all day in the factories or under hoods of the cars gave nods of respect though I was years younger than them.

They looked to the pack to protect them.

And as the Alpha, they looked to me not to lead them astray.

Taking a deep breath and nodding back to those who would meet my eyes, I walked my way off the rez and into the woods, heading for the house. Once I was out of sight of all those eyes, most of which had returned to me as I'd given them my back, my muscles loosened.

But only for the walk to the house. As soon as I stepped into the clearing, I knew something big had gone down. There was heavy breathing from the ground floor, Bella murmuring something unintelligible even to me, and the sound of Leah stomping around. I knew it was her by the smell of her anger.

I hadn't even reached the first porch step before the door burst open and Leah thundered out onto the wood, fuming. Caden was close behind, a tight smile on his face.

"What the hell happened?" I demanded, nearly making it a command.

Leah stopped on the top step right above me and pointed back to the door. "That…that…_bloodsucker_ thinks he has the right to walk all over his daughter! He had no right at all!" She yelled all this back toward the house.

From inside there was a weary sigh.

Confused as I was, there was only one bloodsucker that was male with a daughter.

"Leah," I said in a low tone. "What happened?"

Caden came up behind her to stroke her hair while she breathed hard. Slowly, she calmed down enough to stop flaring her nostrils like a bull and focus on me. I expected her to answer, but all she did was shake her head.

"I can't go into it, Jake. I just really can't, right now." With a dismissive wave, she let Caden lead her off the porch.

I almost went after them, but a moment later, Alice appeared in the doorway. Her face was sad as she just shook her head.

"Where?" I growled, knowing she'd understand.

"The cabin," she barely whispered.

Two seconds later, I phased, ripping my clothes, and ran around the house.

_Edward, _I called to him mentally. _If you hurt her, you better get ready for a beating._

And then my only thought was to get to Nessie.

**RPOV**

The cabin was just as it was when Jacob and I had left it a couple days ago. Only the happy memories had been washed away by the emotional tide that had come down by what I'd put in motion.

The couch. I hated that couch now.

As I stood in the doorway, looking into the living room and the kitchen at the same time, the ghosts of past visions came to me. Children's laughter rang in my ears like wind chimes, Jacob's deep rumble the sound of a drum as he chased the kids around the hardwood floor. Me standing in the kitchen rubbing my rounded belly with the third on its way, the only one a mystery.

Placing my hand on my flat, empty stomach, I took a deep breath and tried my hardest to move further into the room. I slowly made my way across the expanse of hardwood floors to the stairs that lead down to the master bedroom. When I got to the head of the stairs, though, it was as if my knees no longer wanted to bend at my mind's command. They didn't want to go down there any more than I did. But eventually, I cursed and made the command an order.

It was slow work as I descended. This room held so many memories, most of them good and most containing our firsts as a couple.

The bed looked the same. It was made, the duvet straight across, no wrinkles. The bed posts were tall and as thick as the trunk of a tree, as solid, too. The headboard was some sort of dark wood with carved designs of ivy and little blooming flowers. Man, that bed had been a feature in my dreams on so many nights.

Abruptly, my heart gave a tremendous tug and tears flowed freely. What the hell was I going on about the bed for? God, the things Leah had told me about Jacob. He'd been through so much and I'd just tossed him over for not telling me like it was casual conversation? Ugh, I made myself sick.

What I wanted was for Jacob to meet me here. I wanted to tell him that I still loved him. Knowing his story may have changed my perception of him, but he was still the one I loved, my man, my male. My alpha. Even more than the visions of children dancing upstairs, I wanted his big, real, warm body on top of me, inside of me, telling me that he forgave me. Even though I sure as shit didn't deserve it.

And I was just about to drop to my knees and scream when-

"I do forgive you."

Catching my scream in my throat, I whirled to find Jacob standing at the foot of the stairs, quietly watching me. For a moment, I couldn't breathe or think. All that went through me or around me was him. My heart thundered as if making a bid to spill itself into his hands, where it belonged. Blood roared through me, begging me to get our veins as close as possible.

For quite a few heartbeats, we just stared at each other. And for the first time since I'd started this crap, there was no anger or sadness. Just a clinical study of the other as if measuring that the other's vitals were okay.

His dark, dark eyes were steady as they met mine. The body was tall and strong. And now, I knew what it looked like without clothes. He had on a pair of sweats that did nothing to dislodge that memory of him in the bathroom wearing nothing but steam. He must have phased sometime and forgotten to take his clothes off first because he'd been wearing something completely different.

And then, in the midst of thinking about his clothes, what he said sank in.

"How did you-? Did I say that out loud?"

He shook his head once.

Great, so I'd projected. I was about to slam my mental walls up, but he shook his head again.

"Don't close yourself up to me," he growled out. "You always do. And I hate that." Anger washed over his face. "It's like you don't trust me."

"It's not you I don't trust," I whispered.

I turned away from him and wrapped my arms around myself, my tears falling again. I heard him move closer but not yet felt his warmth. He'd only taken a couple small steps.

"Nessie, I want what you want. More than the kids, I want you under me. That's the first step anyway."

Tightening my arms around my torso, I sucked in a breath. "Why? How? How could you want me after all I've put you through? You couldn't possibly." And then I laughed at the actions we were talking about. "And now you want to? Now that I've had this huge temper tantrum. Nice. Now you're just trying to placate me because someone talked you into it."

A vicious snarl and growl ripped through the room. And before I could turn, a strong hand gripped my elbow and spun me around. Jacob's teeth were bared but his eyes were still the same, calm and in the driver's seat. He wouldn't hurt me.

Abruptly, he moved that hand down to my wrist, spread my palm, and thrust it against the hard length between his legs. He groaned loudly, and with a gasp, I tried to pull away so that I wouldn't hurt him, but he just held me there as his eyes closed and hips came forward to meet my hand.

"Do you feel that?" he demanded hoarsely. "You feel how hard I am?" Those beautiful dark eyes opened and speared right into me. "I'm looking right at you, Nessie. I know it's you. And I want you more than I've ever wanted anything in my entire godforsaken life."

As he spoke, his hips kept up a rhythm that my hand started to match without my telling it to do so. I swallowed hard and watched as his gorgeous body stroked itself against my hand.

He leaned down to my ear so that he could whisper into it. "You know my story. Leah told you. That's what you were thinking about. And I can now tell you, and you'll know, that your mother is nothing more than a good friend, a mother-in-law. It's you that I want underneath me. It's you I want at my side as my mate. It's you I want to tame, mark, and make mine."

Those growled out, masculine, dominating words sent a shiver down my spine so forceful that I fell against Jacob's body. Mine had completely turned to liquid, wanting nothing more than to let him do whatever he wanted to do to me.

So I said the only thing was appropriate.

"Yes," I whispered. "God, yes."

Jacob growled, wrapped his arms around my body, and carried me over to the bed. His movements and body language may have been rough, but he was still gentle with me as he laid me out. He leaned back to stare at me, eyes roaming my body, coming and settling on my lips. He swallowed hard.

I held my arms out. "I'm at _your_ mercy, Jake. It was my fuckup. And I'm your female. Take me how you want me."

With another growl and slight grin, he came down to press his lips to mine. We both groaned at the contact. Man, it felt good to have him on my skin somewhere. And even though I wanted to deepen the kiss, I let him be in control. He'd said the word _tame_ which meant his Alpha Male-ness had kicked in. He was the dominant he was supposed to be, the one that Leah had drawn a picture of for me in her story of his life. This was the man that was supposed to be, not the soft one he'd chosen to be for me.

And I wanted it. I wanted him like this: raw, powerful, wild.

Sure enough, he deepened the kiss, his tongue making an appearance at my lower lip. He didn't have to ask twice. My lips fell open on a sigh as his tongue penetrated me, going deep, tasting me. Again, we both groaned. And then his hands started to roam. They found my waist, fingers going under the lip of my sweater, teasing the line of skin until I couldn't stand it and squirmed. Chuckling into my mouth, his palms flattened over the expanse of my torso, fingertips landing on the front of my bra. I wanted him on me, in me, all over.

My mental walls weren't up, and he'd caught the thought. The growl deepened. He broke the kiss to whip the sweater off my body and threw it to who-gave-a-shit-ville and was back to my lips. Only, he didn't stay there. Those soft, full lips moved down my jaw, the column of my neck, nuzzled a little behind my ear, and moved down my chest.

When he got to the spot over my heart where the bruise had started to fade, he frowned. And then a predatory look came into those eyes.

"I think a little re-marking is in order." His voice was so deep that it was only a growl, but it did things to my body that made me think pain was not going to be part of what happened between us. I was more than ready for him.

He growled again, letting me know that he'd seen the thought, before he dropped his lips to my skin. As soon as that tongue made an appearance my body arched up off the bed, my fingers going into his hair, digging into his scalp, pushing him closer to my skin.

My chest was heaving, thighs pressing together, as my body arched. He went to work on my chest, nibbling, sucking, and licking. This was too much. I had too many articles of clothing on, and my skin was scorching. Something had to come off. Before I could get my hands between us, he beat me there, fingers going to the button of my jeans. As his mouth kept working, he jerked the button open and the fly down. He was done with gentle as he slipped his hands in between my panties and jeans. Those hands went around, cupping my ass and then pulled out and down to get the jeans down my hips.

"Oh, god, Jake. Get on with it. I need you," I groaned as my nails found the nape of his neck.

He chuckled, but did as I asked. Pressing a surprisingly gentle kiss to my chest, he reached down and finished pulling off my jeans and throwing them to my shirt. Rearing up above me, he stared at my body as if I were something to eat. Glancing down his, I found that the sweats were only hiding him from my sight, not containing that massive erection seeing as how the fabric had been tented out.

That brought out a growl of my own. I knew what every inch of his body looked like, and I wanted it pressed against mine. He growled as well, and fell down on top of me, his arms catching and holding most of his weight.

One hand came up to slide one of my bra straps down and then went to the other. It was me that reached back to undo the clasp and shimmy out of the damn thing. When it was thrown out into the darkness, he fell on me as if he was starving and I was the only one with the food he needed.

The gentleness was gone as his tongue, teeth, and lips ravished my breasts. He pulled one of my nipples taught between his teeth as he rolled the other with his thumb and forefinger. My nails found his shoulders as my body arched again and a groan came out of my mouth. It was a sound that I had never made before, but one that seemed to spur Jacob on, because he growled against my skin and switched sides, holding me closer, sucking more of me in.

It took me a long moment to realize that the fingers of his free hand had gone down to the play with the elastic of my panties, dipping in and out, caressing my skin. Once I realized his touch was there, my hips shot upward, following where his fingers went, dying not to break the connection. The feel of him that close to the core of me left me panting and aching.

Okay, enough with the foreplay. I was insane with need and heat. My meter of patience was below empty, and I needed the man that was on top of me. Only he could stop the ache between my legs. And as much as I wanted to get to know his body, we had time for that later. This ache in me had been building for nearly a year. It was time to let it go.

Reaching down, using my hands and feet, I managed to grab onto his sweats and tug them down. I caught a terrific shot of his ass before they stopped moving. His erection. They were caught up.

"Lift up, Jake," I managed to pant. When he hesitated for a fraction of a second, I leaned down next to his ear. "I've already seen you, and you're amazing. And to get to where we're going, these are going to have to come off. So. Lift. Up." At the end, I nibbled on his earlobe, which made him shudder as he lifted his hips.

Pulling the same move he had, I wrapped my hands around his bare ass for a second, squeezing, before I pulled out and down. Moving around to the front of his hips, I did the same. Once everything was free, I pulled them the rest of the way off with my feet.

Once I flung the offensive fabric off the bed, I had to tug on his now bare hips to get his weight back on me. But once he relented, that hot, hard length pressed into my thigh. Man, he was huge. How was he going to fit? In answer to that question, my body rushed, and I felt the fabric between my legs soak through. Oh, yeah. He'd fit.

Suddenly, he lifted his mouth off me and shifted to his side onto one of his elbows. His other hand stroked over my stomach and breasts. My body undulated under his ministrations, but my eyes traveled toward his hips. I needed to see him again, see him hard as opposed to soft.

And, oh, god…if he'd been amazing before, he was magnificent now. Long and hard, the blunt head of him reaching up just past his bellybutton. What caught my attention was that he was thicker toward the base of his body, and I was dying to get my hands around him. I wanted to feel that heavy weight in my palm and know that it was mine, all mine.

My thoughts must have gotten to him because he growled as that length jerked against his belly. When my eyes met his, we met heat for heat.

"I can't do gentle right now, Ness. God, I want to, but-,"

I swallowed hard. "I know. But we have all the time in the world for gentle. Right now, I just need this," I gripped him in a moment of bravery, "inside me.

We both shuddered and groaned at the contact. He was warm, silky, and smooth over all the hardness. And damn, was he hard. Hard as a steel rod.

A rumble came up from his chest as I stroked him. It wasn't a growl. More like a purr as my hand started to move up and down. I couldn't meet my thumb and my middle finger around him at the base and barely at the tip.

And it wasn't scary in the least. It was hunger-inducing.

**JPOV**

Dear God, that hand of hers was driving me close to the edge. Her hand was fire on my already-hot skin. And to watch her stroke me? My head kicked back onto a pillow as a groan left me. God_damn_, was this really happening? Had I really taken things here? Yes, yes, I had. And we were both loving it. This was right. This was where we needed to be.

My neurons stopped firing the moment her fingers caressed and massaged the tip of my erection, and I just couldn't hold it in anymore. I came with such force that I was surprised I didn't throw out my back. My hips bucked up wildly into her hands as hot streams shot out onto her hands, my stomach, and the bed.

"_Fuck_," I managed to get out from between my teeth.

When she let me go, I opened my eyes to find her staring at what had come out of me. She was rubbing her hands and fingers together with a very satisfied smile. Man, I was still hard and not all that sensitive. Usually once was all it took, but with the promise of getting into my mate, that shit wasn't about to happen. My body was not about to disappoint her.

And sure enough, I got even harder as she grinned wide and rubbed what had been on her hands all over her body, especially her breasts. With a grin up at my face, she took what had gotten onto my stomach and finished rubbing it on her. That was it. I needed her.

My fingers fisted the side of her panties as I leaned into her with a growl. "Tell me you aren't attached to these?"

She giggled and shimmied her hips. "Not in the slightest." Her voice was lower than usual, and I loved it.

I pressed my lips to hers and ripped the cloth from her. Her body jerked against mine as I flung the strips away and stared down to what I had just bared. Fucking _A_. Her skin was utterly smooth, and now I knew it wasn't just the hair on her head as the reason her showers took so long. Shaving things other than her legs was clearly part of her routine. Before I took her, I needed to touch her. It was such a strong impulse that I had to go with it. If it hadn't been roaring in my ears I would have skipped it, but I couldn't. She'd touched me. I needed to touch her.

As I stared at her, she sighed and split her legs wide so I had a better view. The view knocked the breath out of me. She was wet, pink, and glistening. My tongue shot out to lick my lips, but that was a want, not an impulse, so I shoved it to the side for now. My fingers were itching to touch her.

Reaching over, I played with the skin of her hip, and her head pressed back into the pillow. Looking up, I found that her head was tilted to the side and her eyes were on me, that bottom lip between her teeth.

It was her hand that put me to her core. Damn, she was hot. As hot as I'd been, still was. My hand found all kinds of things to explore. And she was slick enough that I didn't have to worry about hurting her that way. Closing my eyes, I concentrated on her breathing and sounds. She liked the upstroke, at the very top of her core, but she also liked when I dipped the tip of a finger into her. I was dying to go further, to be inside of her.

When my finger played around her opening again, she thrust her hips up, pushing me further in. God, she was burning up…for me. So, watching her face carefully for any discomfort or pain, I slipped my middle finger into her and pressed my thumb against that spot at the top. Instead of pain, she arched up of the bed with the sexiest moan I'd ever heard in my life. Her hand shot up to grip my shoulder, nails digging in as I pushed my way in. Though she was wet, she was tight. Her body clamped down around my finger, sucking on it. The feeling made me shudder. In the motion my hips were dying to take, I pulled my finger out. Her body followed after it, trying to keep the contact, but she didn't need to worry. I slid back in smoothly with less resistance on her part. I hadn't met a certain resistance I had once been told to expect, which made me wonder. She gasped when I flicked my finger in experiment and her nails dug in deeper.

"_Yes,_" she hissed. "Oh, god, yes, Jake. Please."

With that, I moved faster and eventually added a second, and then a third finger. Only once did she ask me to hold up a minute for her to accommodate me, which was good. Her body wasn't _that_ opposed to change.

On the thrust I'd promised myself would be the last, she dug her nails so deep that she bled me, her head pounded back into the pillow, her body arched, and she moaned loudly as her hips bucked.

Holy shit, she'd just had her first orgasm. And I'd just given it to her.

**RPOV**

As I floated back down into my own body, the first thing I saw was Jacob's face. He was grinning at me.

When I swallowed and realized I had regained the ability to talk, I said, "Now I see why you worked yourself out all the time. That was amazing."

His grin widened. "Trust me, it's better this way, with someone helping out. You have no idea how good that was for me with your hands on me."

My body convulsed at the memory of him jetting and jerking in my palm. Yeah, that had been amazing.

On a sudden rush, the gentleness left me. Now that we'd gotten the whole touching-for-the-first-time out of the way, we needed to get on with the show. I wanted him inside of me…deep inside of me.

So, to get the ball rolling, I reached down and gripped him hard. His breath went out and his eyes unfocused. But a moment later, his fingers did the same harsh grip on me and he growled.

"You're right. No more. I need you." Sliding his fingers out of me, he brought his hand to his mouth and licked at it experimentally. Then, he closed his eyes as if he'd just tasted heaven and licked them clean.

With that he rolled back on top of me, this time nothing between us except for the thin, drying coat of what I'd rubbed all over myself. He positioned his hands on either side of my shoulders and put his upper weight there as he let his hips fall between my spread legs. One hand went between our bodies to position himself at my entrance.

The nervousness still hadn't reared its ugly head and I was grateful. I trusted Jacob, and he needed to know that. He came back and pressed a kiss to my lips as I felt the hot, blunt head of him probe.

"Let me know if I need to pause like I did with my hand."

I nodded, thinking that that wasn't going to be an issue. As his hips moved forward and a delicious tightness started between my legs, I ran my hands up and down Jacob's back and sides, assuring him that I was ok, to keep going. He was positively shaking with the need to keep it a bit slow.

Leaning up, I pressed a kiss to the underside of his jaw. "Just move, Jake. Go. I'll be alright."

Those impossibly dark eyes met mine, and I opened my connection wider to him, letting him see that I was truly ok. With that reassurance, his lips met mine and then he was pushing into me in one solid slide that was deliciously tight and erotically smooth. I groaned with a smile on my face.

"I'm all the way in," he said in surprise.

Still grinning, I slightly ran my nails down his back. "Yes, you are. And you fill me up." Which was true. I could feel him all the way up to my bellybutton.

"But I expected-,"

He'd expected pain for me. But it didn't come. I'd long ago broken that wall inside me. It could happen to girls when they were active before losing their virginity. The only discomfort was getting used to his size, but I already was and I needed him to move. I wanted that friction. So I shook my head.

"Later, Jake. Just move. Please."

Again I had to show him through my connection that I was fine. And then I showed him what I wanted him to do. With a growl and that wildness back in his eyes, hefted himself more firmly onto his arms and took his hips back.

Oh, yeah. That was what I was looking for. When he swung back in, he hit the end of me and circled his hips, making him brush the walls inside of me. He did that a few more times before our minds left the building and our bodies took over.

His thrusts became harder and faster, but still controlled. My head moved up and down on the pillow as I held onto his hammering hips. With my legs as far open as I could get them, I reached down to dig my nails into his ass as he pounded into me. His breathing was hot and hard, head hanging down on his shoulders. Sweat poured off of both of us as he worked our bodies out good.

The muscles of his back and shoulders slid under his smooth, slick skin. And eventually, my hips joined our dance. I found and picked up his hard, pounding rhythm and met him at the apex of his thrust, our bodies meeting and retreating. And every single time our bodies met, that sweet spot at the top of my sex was rubbed by his lower body creating a heat in my stomach that flowed down.

Soon, the heat was so intense that I gripped harder onto his ass that was still pumping, but losing its rhythm. I was getting close. That heat moved fast and out of control. It had been the same as when his fingers had been inside of me.

Jacob's body was losing the fight with control, his thrusts becoming messy and uncoordinated. A bead of sweat slid down his neck and ran down his chest. Impulsively, I reached up with my tongue and licked it off. He hissed and pulled my hair back, making me look at him.

"Come with me, Ness," he panted and groaned out at the same time. "Almost there."

"I'm right with you, baby. Just let go."

His first super hard thrust had me up off the bed. And in retaliation, I bit him on the shoulder, and dug my nails into his ass again, pushing him deeper inside.

**JPOV**

The instant her teeth sank into me, the last of my control washed away. With my hips having taken over, the only thing I could do was hang on for the end of the ride. Which was coming. My back was starting to tighten up, and the twin weights below were clenching hard.

Dear God, this was the best thing I'd ever felt in my life. My face was pressed down into the mint smell of Nessie's hair, her teeth were deep in my shoulder, and her nails were deep into my ass, urging me to finish.

That finish came like the slam of a door. One moment open, the next, _slam._ My back tightened so hard and fast that I was momentarily paralyzed in the deep thrust that I was in. I was as far inside her as I could be, and her body, in answer, clamped around me, holding me to her, milking me for all I was worth.

At the same time we both shouted the other's names as our orgasms froze us. Sweat ran into the bite mark she'd left and stung like a mother, but damn, it felt good. I knew I'd feel small pains whenever I sat down for a few days after this. That was ok. I could live with that.

Eventually, my body was drained having been emptied into her, but I couldn't bring myself to pull out. I liked where I was just fine, thank you. But my arms couldn't hold me up and I collapsed on top of her. As I tried to slide off, her arms came around my back, holding me against her.

"No, stay. I like you right here."

"I'm too heavy, Ness," I grunted.

"No, you're really not, Jake. At least, not at the moment."

Most likely trying to find a comfy spot, she moved against me with me still inside her. Okay, now I was sensitive.

"Oh, god, Ness. Stop moving. Please," I groaned.

She laughed, but stopped and stroked my back. "Sorry."

"'Sokay."

We just lay there for an indefinable amount of time, relearning how to breathe and petting each other. My face was buried in her hair, hers in my neck. I knew I had to move off her before we fell asleep. When I listed to the side but put my arms around her to keep her with me, she let me. She sighed and snuggled into my chest.

"Are you ok? Did I hurt you?" I asked.

She stroked my neck. "I'm fine, Jacob. But did I hurt you? I bit you kind of hard."

I chuckled, feeling and loving the bite of pain. "Nah, I like it." Getting serious, I pulled back so I could see her face. There was nothing but love in her eyes. "Now, are we ok?"

She smiled up at me. "Yeah, Jake, we're ok." She frowned, "But-,"

I put a finger to her lips. "No more heavy talk tonight. This was our night. We'll deal with the rest later, ok?"

Those redder-than-normal lips pressed to my fingers. "Ok, Jacob." Reaching up, she ran a finger between my eyes. "You must be exhausted after all that work."

My voice went into a rumble. "And you must be exhausted from receiving it all."

"Mmm," was her response.

Tucking her hair behind her ear, I went for her lips. "Go to sleep. I'll be right here in the morning."

"Me, too," she whispered.

Before passing out, I managed to wiggle the comforter free and over the two of us so that she wouldn't get cold during the night. None of the fireplaces had been lit up before we'd gotten down to business and I wasn't about to get my ass out of bed away from her. Plus my legs weren't feeling the need to work.

Within moments we were out because all was good with our world tonight. It might not be all that great tomorrow or the day after, but tonight?

Tonight was perfect.

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**I really don't feel the need for there to be any explanations here. So I hope you enjoyed. And feel free to review or PM me. Love you guys! xoxoxoxoxoxo**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello, Chapter 10. Well, well, well, I am very ecstatic that you guys liked the lemon. You just don't know. Now, I decided to give you another in this one so this is your warning just in case. And I have to say that I love this one so much more than the first one. A lot of you are going to review and ask about the ring and Edward's reaction. Relax and breathe. It's all coming. I promise.**

***Disclaimer here***

**Please Enjoy!**

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**MorganPOV**

Damn Lucas. Damn him to hell and back. He was so sweet. And that sweetness made a part of me downright nauseous. It got even worse when he insisted on walking me home. On our way, it occurred to me that I hadn't ever seen him around the rez. But then again, when I'd been out and about, I hadn't been looking at anyone other than the person I was going home with.

Damn, I didn't deserve Lucas. He was sweet, kind, and firm when needed. I was coarse and a hazard to public health. Me being let out on the streets should be a crime.

When I sighed, he looked over at me. "What?"

I shook my head just as that same damn group of guys came out of the twenty-four hour diner to our right. No doubt they'd known that to get to my place, we had to pass the diner and were waiting for us, hoping that Lucas would walk me home.

I kept walking. He didn't.

"Not one word from you, Zach. Not one."

"Or what? Gonna beat me up? Your little slut could do a better job than you could." The slut comment didn't bother me, because at some level it was true. But what he said next was unacceptable. "You her little bitch now, Lucas?"

Before Lucas could even blink, I was on the guy. Grabbing him by the labels of his old leather jacket, I lifted him up until his feet left the ground. And then brought his face closer to mine. Fear seeped out of him and stung my nose.

"You call me whatever the hell you like, but if you ever say something like that to him again, I will do something with that small tool of yours…and it won't be for sex. Slow and painful are my two favorite pastimes. You should remember that the next time your mouth wants to move before your brain kicks in, 'cause I'm sure that's what happened this time, right?"

When he nodded like a bobble head on the dash of a car going over gravel, I dropped him onto the pavement.

"That's what I thought."

As he scrambled back on his hands and feet to his buddies, I stepped back toward Lucas, who took my hand. Bringing my hand up to his lips, he kissed my knuckles and leaned into me.

"That was the sexiest thing I've ever seen," he whispered.

I fought and failed not to blush. Dammit.

"Hey, Lucas. Your girlfriend do the tough stuff for you?" one of the buddies asked as they pulled their fearless leader to his feet.

I glanced up at Lucas, who was grinning. "If it's always as sexy as what she just did, hell yeah." Then his expression turned serious. "But fair warning, you guys better watch yourselves. She's not my bodyguard and I can throw down just as well. Best remember that."

"Ooo, we're so scared."

As they did their cowarding in the shadows, we turned away and started walking again. His hand tightened on mine.

"They will be."

"What?"

"Scared of you. They will be. They'll see the difference in you after you phase. You'll be big with power."

"Will I?" he asked. Surprisingly there was no hint of smugness. He was truly curious. Dammit. I hadn't yet found something that I could hold against him.

I nodded and answered him. "Yeah. It's like, your body will stay the way it is in human form, but the power that will radiate off of you will make you huge to them. And frankly, they should already be scared. You're nearly as big as Jake. He's the biggest of all of us."

He just shrugged. "I'm too nice. They like to nag on me for it."

"Well, whatever the reason, you're a good man, Lucas. You don't deserve to be treated that way." To say what I wanted to, I had to let go of his hand. I was already too attached to him. "Look, about what they said. They're right. I haven't exactly been virginal over the past few…well, ever."

He took a few quick steps to get in front of me and stopped me with hands on my shoulders.

"Listen to me, Morgan. I don't care what they or you say. I like you and I want to further things with you. As long as that stays in your past, I don't care. I just want there to be me in your future and I'm willing to hang tight and ride with you through the speed bumps. Dinner was amazing with you tonight. And my father liked you. Please, don't close this down when it's barely started."

Looking at him, I wanted exactly what he did. But he didn't know me. He didn't know all the hell that had happened to me. He didn't know that the speed bumps were actually impossible mountains.

God help him. And me for falling for it.

**The Next Morning**

**RPOV**

Warm. I was so very warm. And as the arms around my waist tensed and squeezed, I knew why. Jacob was wrapped around me, his face buried in the nape of my neck, tickling the skin and hair there.

Trying to stifle a giggle, I gently ran my nails over his forearms where they were tucked up under my breasts. In response, his body woke up, hardening against the back of my thigh while his mouth pressed a kiss to my shoulder.

"Good morning, Jacob," I said deliberately.

"Good morning, gorgeous." His voice was rough and deep, the way it had been last night.

Mmm, last night. In a flood, it all came back to me. What we'd done in this very bed. In response to the memories, my thighs pressed together and I couldn't help the arch against him. He purred into my skin.

Laughing, I rolled over in his arms and found his lips with mine for a very chaste good morning kiss. Luckily, he followed my lead and pulled back before we could get too hot and heavy.

"I love you, Nessie. You know that, don't you?" Despite what his body obviously wanted, those eyes were terribly serious.

I placed my hand on his cheek and stroked my thumb across the bone. "Yeah, I know you do. And not just because of last night. Jacob, I don't want you to think that it was all because of sex."

"Baby, I know. It was because I never bothered to tell you about me, about my past. And it wasn't fair to you."

Sighing, I rested my head over his heart. "I don't want to do the whole 'you're right-no, you're right' crap, Jake, but here's what's going on. You didn't tell me. I freaked out. We both were right and wrong at the same time. And now we're over that speed bump. The road took us to last night, which I wouldn't change for the world. How's that?"

His big hand stroked my hair. "Sounds perfect."

Smiling, I kissed the mark I'd put on his chest. "Good." My eyes lifted to find the mark on his shoulder. It was so much more than a bruise. My teeth had broken the skin and perfect indentions of my teeth were set there. I gently stroked the skin around it. "Are you ok? It's a little rough."

"Ness, I'm fine. A little sore. But the good kind."

We smiled a new special, couple's smile. And shared another kiss.

"Let me get up and a shower so I can make us some breakfast. Your stomach will wake up soon."

He rolled us over so that I was underneath him. Bringing his head down, he nuzzled my neck.

"I think I can get my stomach to agree that we both want you this morning."

I allowed a moment of the nuzzling before pushing him back. Even though I was feeling as good as he was and wanted to be with him again, I knew I was very sore. I'd felt it when he'd rolled us. My inner thighs were tight, as were my hips. And my stomach wasn't thrilled with any sort of bending.

"Jacob, come on. I gotta feed the beast before round two."

He pulled back to search my face as he felt me tense up. "You ok?"

My hands smoothed up his strong muscular arms that caged my body. "Yeah, I'm fine."

After a moment, he rolled to the side, stroking his hand over my stomach. A sly smile worked his lips at the corners. "Well, then, if a round two is coming, I guess we will need some grub."

As his stomach finally let out an agreement, I patted the muscles there with a grin. "How does French toast sound?"

"With bacon?" he asked hopefully leaning into my lips.

I rolled my eyes and kissed him back. "I suppose."

"Mmm, I knew I loved you."

That made me laugh…and almost double over in a massive cramp. Whoa. Had we really been that rough?

"Nessie?"

Pulling myself out of my thoughts, I raised my eyebrows. "Hmm?"

"You sure you're ok?"

"Yup."

Sucking in a deep breath, I shoved the blanket off my legs and swung them off the bed. If Jacob knew how much I was hurting, he'd have a freak out. And though we promised not to lie to each other, I couldn't stand the thought of him thinking that he'd actually hurt me, hurt me.

But the thought stopped me. Lying to him? At all? After everything that I've done? No, absolutely not. I had to tell him. He hadn't lied about the massive bite I'd taken out of him. Taking another deep breath, I stood up and turned to him.

"Hey, Jake?"

He was looking down at something on the sheet and placed his hand over it. After a moment he looked up at me. "Yeah?"

"Round two might need to wait a little bit," I said quickly, hoping I didn't make a terrible face at him.

His eyes went wide. "What? Why? Did I hurt you?"

I sighed, and then found inspiration in the words he'd said earlier and smiled. "You didn't hurt me the way you're thinking of. It's just we were a bit rough and, well, even if we'd been gentle, I'm a little sore. Well, a lot sore."

Quickly, he jumped up off the bed and came to me. "What hurts?"

I shrugged. "Just my hips and thighs. Maybe my stomach a little." At that moment, a trickle on the insides of my thighs made me look down. What Jacob had left behind last night was tinged red with blood.

Crap.

And I knew Jacob saw it. A moment later, "Shit, Nessie. How rough was I with you last night?"

I stepped into his body and he wrapped his arms around me. "Jacob, we were both rough and lost in it last night. I don't regret it. And this 'pain' will go away. And a hot shower will help. True, I didn't expect to bleed, but it can happen. I promise you that I'm ok."

We locked eyes. "Show me, Ness. Like you did last night."

Swallowing hard, I opened my connection. I showed him the cramping and the tightness in my muscles. And then I showed him how much I loved it. That it was a good kind of hurt, and that I wanted it to go away as soon as possible so that we could do it again…and maybe a little rougher.

After all that, he took a deep breath. And nodded. "Ok, ok, I'm good." He brought his warm palm up to cover mine. "Thank you."

Another shrug. "You needed to be reassured that you hadn't hurt me. And you didn't. It's just the way bodies work."

"There's blood on the sheets."

"And that's ok. That's natural. Not to mention that I just got off my period not too long ago. It can happen."

"I feel better then."

"Good." Getting up on the tips of my toes, I pressed a kiss to his lips. Our bodies brushed and we both hissed. With a shaky laugh, I pushed away from him. "Let me go take a shower. You pull off the sheets and put some peroxide on the stains."

Before we could get caught up in each other, I rushed into the bathroom. Well, rushed was an overstatement. More like walked quickly with rusty hips. That entire section of my body was screaming. So without turning around for Jacob to see me wince, I closed the door and started the shower, which, thankfully, heated up quickly.

Once I stepped under the spray, I looked down to find something white flaking off my skin. Oh, right. I'd slathered myself in Jacob's release. Biting my lower lip to keep my groan in, I remembered his eyes when he'd watched me do that. The heat in his voice as he'd asked me if I were attached to my panties was hot as hell.

As much as I wanted to get back out there to Jacob, I took my time in the shower. The hot water felt good on my thighs and hips. And I very much wanted a round two with Jake before we went back down to the house even though that would mean another round in the shower as well. Since the shower was big enough, I also stretched a little, and that helped too.

By the time I was done, I was squeaky clean and way less sore. After I squeezed all the water out of my hair that I could, I wrapped that towel around my body and went for the bedroom. I hadn't brought any clothes in with me. Jacob wasn't there, but had been thoughtful enough to leave clothes for me on the now bare mattress.

Quickly, I got dressed, tied my hair up in a knot, and went up the stairs a lot faster than I'd banked on being able to. Jacob's broad back was bent over the sink as he scrubbed the blood stain off the sheet.

Walking up behind him, I slid my hands up around and over his torso and pressed a kiss to his back.

"How's it coming?"

"A little more effort than I thought," he grunted.

Chuckling and kissing him again, I moved to take the sheet from him. "Here, let me do it. You go take a shower. Then, I'll get breakfast together."

He pulled the sheet out of my hand with determination. "No. I helped put it there. I'll clean it up."

"Jacob-," I laughed.

He waved his hand at the fridge. "Work on food. Let me get this."

I sighed, pressed one last kiss to his back, and went to make breakfast. After a minute, it became clear that we were both so involved in our tasks that it was normal for us. That there was no need to strike up a conversation. The rubbing of fabric came from the sink while I mixed stuff in a bowl and heated things up. It was just nice to have him near me.

But, of course it wouldn't last.

He cleared his throat. "So, uh, why wasn't there really any pain last night? You told me you'd tell me later. It's later."

I laughed. "That barrier that you were waiting for is a thin one and can be broken when a woman is active long before she has sex. Years of running with you are probably what broke it."

"So, technically, I still helped to break it."

I turned and found that he was smiling at me. I grinned back. "Yeah, only with less pain."

After I turned back to my task there was the sound of something dragging. Looking behind me, the trail of sheet followed him like a shadow.

"Just gonna put this in the washer."

The sounds of him mixed with the sounds of me until we were back in our silence. Until he came back with another question.

"What happened with your dad?"

I shook my head. "It's nothing, Jake."

He gripped my arm much like he had last night but a little more gently and turned me around.

"No, Nessie. It was something. Leah was beyond pissed off and Alice wouldn't let me in the house. Tell me what happened."

"No's not an answer anymore, huh?" I asked with a puff of a laugh.

He shook his head. "I'm picking my battles on the ones I need to know. And this is one I need to know."

Sighing heavily, I laid my hand on his cheek. "It'll be easier to show you."

So help me, I tried to be as unemotional as I could about it. I really did. But the way my father had looked at me broke my heart all over again as I replayed it for Jacob. I also tried to leave out the fact that my uncles had had to haul him away, but Jacob pressed my hand to his face to keep it going. When I finally managed to wrench away from him, he was shaking.

"How could he-," he started with clenched teeth.

"Jacob, he was right. I just started shit even though I knew that I loved you and that you loved me. Ungrateful is a good word for what I was."

He shook his head. "Ness, it's not the fact that his words may or may not have been right. It's that he got in your face like that. No father should ever scare his child that way. That's unacceptable to me, especially when it's my mate involved. That shit doesn't fly."

Again with the sighing. "Well, fine. You're going to do what you want. All I ask is that you not do whatever you're going to do too bad, okay?"

His jaw clenched. "He'll still be breathing."

"Good. Now go get a shower. I'm almost done."

As I turned away, he surprised me by wrapping his arms around my waist gently and pressing a soft kiss behind my ear.

"I just don't want anything to happen to you. I mean, what'll happen when we get pregnant and he has another episode about God-knows-what? I don't want you in the line of fire. I'm just gonna set him straight about where things stand with you. If there are any misunderstandings, I'll take care of them."

The threat in his voice made me shiver, but the chill was also for the protection. He really would give his life for me. And the threat he posed to my father was the same that he posed to the rest of the world. Anybody hurt me and they were in for a world of pain.

Because that's what his voice held. The promise of pain.

**JPOV**

The hot water felt amazing on my muscles. Man, we really had worked it out last night. This was how I imagined a good workout in a gym would feel the next day. And for the first time since Nessie and I became a couple, I didn't have a monstrous hard-on. My body and I were completely satiated. And it felt good.

But just the thought that Nessie had been in pain, even though she'd liked it, made me ill. How did the others deal with it? Well, she had looked like she was moving easier upstairs after the shower. And there hadn't been pain in her eyes. Just her body. Thinking back to earlier when she'd showed me the "pain", she'd said it was the good kind of pain, just like I had. Remembering that, my chest eased a little.

And then dread hit me. What the hell was I gonna do if we had a kid? That is not a good kind of pain no matter if we're bringing a child into the world. That pain is pain…or so I've heard. Emily nearly crushed Sam's fingers and had said that maybe one kid was enough just because of the pain.

_One day at a time, Jake._

"Oh, god," I said, dropping the soap as another thought hit me. What if she hates me for that?

"Jake? You ok?"

I turned to see Nessie's blurry outline through the glass door. She was standing just inside the door to the bathroom, but I couldn't see her expression. Nothing but her outline was visible.

"Jake?"

Shaking my head and clearing my throat, I said, "Uh, yeah. I'm alright. Just dropped the soap."

"Oh, ok. The sound startled me." She started to turn away.

"Sorry. But hey, I, uh, um…thought of something."

Her blurry form turned back to face me. "What?"

"We didn't use a condom."

There. It was out.

And then a long silence.

"Ness?"

Her sigh mixed with the hiss and steam of the shower as she came to sit on the closed lid of the toilet.

"Jake, I guess the guys didn't tell you."

"Tell me what?" The guys were talking to her? Telling her stuff? Guy stuff?

"Well, I found out from Shelby and she found out from Seth." That made my chest loosen up to let the growl slip away. "The pack, the males, you guys can't use condoms."

Slowly, I opened the shower door and gave her a look. "What?"

She blushed with a little smile. "The males of the pack can't use condoms. The latex would melt with your body heat. And the friction wouldn't help either." And then she frowned. "I guess the females couldn't have their human males use them either. Their body heat is astronomical, too." Her eyes met mine. "Why do you ask?"

I shook my head, my chest easing up. "No reason. It just occurred to me. But in a way, that makes me feel better about that situation."

"Oh, you thought I would get mad at you for not using one?"

I nodded.

Grinning, she shook her head. "Nope. Even if you could, I'm not sure I'd want to."

"You really want those kids, huh?" I asked jogging my eyebrows.

She laughed but then her face grew serious. "It's not just that. I just don't want to worry about precautions. I want what happens to happen. And I just want to be with you." Her chocolate eyes dropped to the tile on the floor and a soft smile played over her lips. "Plus, a baby is a wonderful gift. Especially to those who are in need of that kind of unconditional love."

Shelby. She was talking about Shelby.

"I agree."

As if she'd heard my thoughts and were confirming them, she said, "Shelby thinks she's pregnant. She said that she thinks she was pregnant before she was turned but lost the baby when she was attacked. The miscarriage probably kept her from shifting. And now she hasn't shifted because she's pregnant again. Apparently, Caden agrees with her."

Well, that was news. And it certainly explained the fluttering sound coming from her. The baby, if there was one, was big enough for its heart to race. The thought of another baby around, especially Seth and Shelby's, brought a happy laugh up out of my throat.

"What's so funny?"

"I think Shelby's right."

"How do you mean?"

Scrubbing the last of the shampoo from my hair, I said, "I think I heard the baby's heartbeat."

Silence met that statement.

"Nessie?"

Sliding the glass aside again, I found her staring at the towel in her hands.

"What is it?"

She sighed. "She and Seth wanted us there when they took the test to find out."

"Really?"

She nodded. "Yeah. They were waiting to take it for when we came back…that day."

I turned off the water and leaned back against the wall. "Shit. Are they still waiting on us?"

Those hunched over, delicate shoulders shrugged. "I don't know. She didn't say that they were going to take it anyway. I think she'd tell me, or I would have gotten a text with the results."

When I held my hand out for the towel, she gave it to me and our eyes met. "Well, then I guess we need to get our asses back down there. If they're waiting, it must be killing them to know for sure."

"And we need to apologize for making them wait. And for being royal pains in the ass."

Nodding, I ran the towel over my hair and down my neck. But I felt her eyes on me. I didn't feel the need to cover up the way I would have before last night. We knew each other now, had touched every inch of the other. There was no need to hide. The only thing that put a slight flush to my cheeks was the fact that I was getting hard while her eyes roamed my body. I could almost feel the path they were taking like one of her nails trailing over my skin.

Looking up at her, I knew exactly where her eyes were. Her lips were parted as if she couldn't quite manage to get enough air. As if she felt my eyes on her, hers lifted to meet mine and I immediately hardened all the way and past to the point of pain. In them was a scorching heat that I'd only caught glimpses of over the past months. God, what kind of frustrations had she gone through while I just did myself? I hadn't even thought of her in those moments. I just thought of getting the pressure and tension out of my back, stomach, and those twin weights between my legs.

I heard her swallow. "I-I'll go lay out some clothes for you while you f-finish in here." As she swallowed again, she got up and walked unsteadily out of the room. But even though she was sexually flustered, her hips swayed as she went, her ass swinging in a sensual glide.

A growl that seemed to rise up from the part of me that was dying to get into her made its way up into my chest, used my throat as an elevator, and spilled out through my teeth in a rumble like thunder.

I needed my female under me again. The instinct to take her again pounded through me. This wasn't just about two people losing their virginity to each other. This was about mating, claiming…marking.

With that growl still rumbling in my gut and chest, I followed her into the bedroom. What I found nearly had me coming into the towel. She was standing there next to the bed, her profile to me. One hand was up around her neck, gripping hard as the other moved down her stomach. Her tight jean-clad thighs were rubbing together, making her hips move in an erotic dance. As I watch and grow hard as steel, that hand around her neck moves down toward her breast.

I nearly lost it, but managed to hold myself in check as I strode across the room. She didn't seem to hear me, too caught up in what she was feeling and no doubt remembering. Going around to stand behind her, I gripped her hips roughly and pulled her against me. I hissed and she groaned as her ass pressed into my erection, rubbing it between us. My hips automatically thrust forward against her as she arched back against my body.

I got a clear line of her all the way down over her shoulder. Even through her shirt and bra I could see that her nipples were hard, and my mouth watered, remembering the taste of her.

My hands moved up her ribs roughly, dragging her clothes to hell and back, and cupped her heavy breasts. Thank God she'd taken after Edward's side in the curve department. The soft, heavy swells filled my palms, almost overflowing. Her hands came up to cover mine and squeezed my fingers around her. And then they moved up over my neck, pushing my head down to her. For once, I was thrilled that her hair was up off her neck. Usually, I had to swim through it to get to her skin, but not today.

My lips connected to the spot behind her ear while my hands roamed south, heading for the low rise of her jeans. My fingers dipped down under the denim and her hips pressed harder into me.

"Jake," she breathed as my hands spanned the space between her hip bones and my fingers played over the crease that started at the top of her core.

"Mmm, what do you want?" The words left me on a rumble while I forced my hands to slip further down, touching more of her.

She moved against me and I let out a purr. Again, she was on fire. Soaking wet and slick against my fingers. Silky smooth. The purr that came next vibrated through my lips from her throat as I dipped my forefinger and middle finger into her.

She groaned and I wrapped my teeth around her skin, growling. I let go just long enough to say, "I asked you a question. What do you want?" And then put my teeth to her again.

Her nails dug into the nape of my neck. "Oh, god, Jake. Please. Take me."

I had to take my teeth off of her or risk taking a bite out of her flesh as I growled and thrust my hips hard into her backside.

"How? How do you want me inside you?"

She swallowed hard. "Behind. Take me from behind. Make me yours."

Animal mating. Man, she was on the same page with my instincts. She really was my soul mate.

It killed a part of me to take my hands away from where she wanted them to be, but I had to get her out of those jeans. They were cramping my style. My style being both of us naked with her bent over the bed. With steady fingers that I really hadn't had last night, I unbuttoned and unzipped her jeans, hooked my thumbs in her panties and pushed them down her smooth thighs. She took over the shucking of her pants while I started on her shirt. I tugged it up over her head while her fingers worked at the clasp of the black bra I'd picked out for her. The color made her skin glow.

As soon as it was down her arms, she flung it somewhere I didn't really care about. And although I loved looking at her gorgeous, curvy body, it didn't look quite right. So I dug through the messy knot on her head to find the elastic. And it took me about two point five seconds to lose my mind before her fingers reached up and did it for me. Slipping the elastic on her wrist, she shook out her long, still damp hair that reached all the way down to the top of her hips.

Now that she was naked, I gripped those hips again and pulled her back against me. Bare skin on bare skin had us both groaning as my erection found a warm spot in the crease of her ass. If I didn't get inside of her soon, I was going to die from the lack of blood flowing to the brain on my shoulders.

Using her hair as a handle, I pulled her back, angled her head and went for her mouth. Her tongue was slick and wet as it dueled with mine for dominance of the kiss. My hands roamed her body, squeezing, rubbing, and scratching as hers shot into my hair and dug at my scalp. When I growled, her ass pressed back, her hips swinging in an arc that got me panting.

In retaliation, I put my hands back down to her core and slipped my fingers back into her, three at a time this time. She gasped then groaned as I started moving them in, out, and around her. My thumb pressed into the top of her core as my other fingers moved. It wasn't long until she was panting against my mouth, her hot breath being pushed past my lips.

"Jacob," she groaned.

"Come for me," I whispered against her lips. "And don't be quiet about it. I want to watch you lose yourself. Come on. Come for me, baby."

She was close. Her breasts pumped fast and faster, stomach undulating against my palm that was still roaming her body. I also knew she was close because she was digging her nails deep into my neck. Her legs started to tremble as little whimpering noises came out of her throat.

Still pumping my fingers into her, I put my lips to her neck and my hand over her breast as the same time. Her body jerked against me as my teeth sank into her neck. A moment later, her nails broke the skin of my neck and her body bucked against me.

"Oh, _God_!" she yelled out. I kept pumping her through it until she calmed and her body trembled.

She was a sweaty, limp mess in my arms. All liquid, she kept her eyes closed and breathed hard. She was beautiful in her blissed out state. A shot of satisfaction shot through me. I was the one who made her like this. I was the only one who ever would. The knowledge that I could pleasure my mate to this extent made me proud to be her male and stand next to her.

Slowly, once her breathing had evened out more, I slid my fingers out of her. The movement still made her jerk and shiver, but she opened her eyes and smiled up at me.

"You ok?" I asked between the kisses I was putting to her shoulder.

She stroked her fingers through my hair. "Mmm, very much so," she murmured as her eyes latched onto my very soaked fingers. Honestly, my whole hand was soaked.

Those chocolate, heat-filled eyes followed my hand as I brought it to my mouth to lick and suck off the pleasure that I'd caused her body to create. I'd heard about oral sex and had honestly not been too into the thought of it, especially the taste. But some of the mated guys couldn't hold their thoughts together well enough for me not to see that tastes differed. And it was the same with me and Nessie. I loved the taste of her. She tasted of rain, a summer storm. I'd once gone down to California with Billy to meet up with one of his fishing buddies. And a summer storm had come to calm the heat. The rain had been cool on the face. Surprisingly it had tasted fresh, but also a little salty from the ocean. That's what she tasted like. That summer rain.

She undulated against me as she watched me suck her into me. Those eyes got dark with lust again. The hard length of me pounded and jerked against her making her purr again. That was when I realized that I was picking up a scent. It was dark and heady. Again, kind of like that storm. You knew it was going to be a doozy of a storm, but it was a good thing as well.

One word came to mind: Arousal. This was the scent Nessie threw off when she was aroused. And I liked it. She was ready for round two.

"Jacob, take me. I want to feel you behind me, inside me."

Well, she didn't have to ask me twice. Wrapping a hand in her hair to hold her face in my direction, I wrapped my other arm around her waist, picked her up, and positioned her in front of the bed. Her eyes grew hooded when I leaned down to take her lips. Abruptly, I pushed her down to the mattress. Her hands shot out to take her weight and ease herself down. Luckily she was tall as was the bed. She didn't have to crawl up on it for our hips to be able to still meet.

Stepping back to take in the sight of her bent over the bed, I nearly came all over the backs of her thighs. She was gloriously spread before me with her face turned back so she could look at me. Her legs shifted so that she was spread out but flat-footed to keep her balance. By some miracle, her hair parted so that it framed her body and left her back and hips bare.

Planting my hands on her hips, I gripped her tight. I didn't question when my erection met her opening without the help of my hand. I just watched Nessie's face for any discomfort as I started to push into her. Her eyes closed and her fingers gripped the comforter I'd thrown back on the bed. Full lips parted, she sucked in a breath as I kept moving forward without meeting resistance. In fact, I was moving pretty smoothly. But she was still tight, and I wasn't narrow, so I went slowly so her body could accommodate me.

In a matter of inches, I was all the way in, her ass pressed to my hips. The sight alone made me jerk inside of her. With the movement, her spine arched a little.

But the heat of her is what made me pause. She was so hot. The only thing that had ever been warm to me in all the years since I'd first phased. And it felt good. It felt like home, oddly enough. In this erotic moment, with me so far inside of her and our eyes meeting, I felt like I was finally home, that I could finally lean back and take a deep breath of relaxation.

Before I could ask again if she was ok, her eyes opened and met mine. "Move, Jake. Please move."

I stared at her for a heartbeat to try to read her. All I got was pure lust.

So I started to move. In this position, I was somehow able to go deeper than I had last night and I had to adjust so that I wouldn't hurt her. But that was the only thing my mind had control of before my body took over. On the bed, her upper body moved up and back with my thrusts as I drove into. After a few strokes, our bodies started to make a low slapping sound, her ass to my hips.

She closed her eyes again and I slid one of my hands up her spine, pushing her to the mattress. My body and instincts liked her like this. We liked that she was bowed before me, letting me into the most secret part of her body, letting me pleasure her the way no other man or wolf ever would, or could. I was hers. And now, she was mine. My scent was all over her, and now with me having come inside of her last night, inside of her.

My wolf was eased now in thoughts of letting her out of our sight since she had our scent ingrained into her skin. Even though it didn't make sense. Humans couldn't scent things. Duh. But that didn't matter. Instinct was instinct. And right now, my instinct was to come in her again while she was vulnerable to us like this.

The slapping sound steadily became louder and sharper as my thrusts became harder and faster. Our hard breathing mixed and mingled in the sex-scented air. Her legs were quivering from holding her up, so I went back to gripping her hips, letting her know that I'd hold onto her should they give out completely.

My thoughts were dimming in light of the tightness curling up in my stomach and back. The twin weights below were also starting to cinch up tight as her body pulsated around where mine penetrated her, squeezing down as I fought for every delicious, tight inch.

Her breath was punching out of her lungs as I dug my fingers into her flesh. The sound mingled with the ever increasing crescendo of the slapping of skin on skin, flesh on flesh. My body was on autopilot as the mattress shook underneath her, the bed frame squeaking as it got jolted around.

Again, I knew when she was about to come. Her breathing became more erratic and her hands shot back to grip my wrists, nails digging into my flesh. Already I knew that she would want to bleed me in some way every time she orgasmed. And her body clamped down on mine, her muscles contracting to keep me inside.

In the blink of an eye, her grip on my wrists tightened and she pulled herself back against my body, holding herself to me. Her body convulsed and firmly gripped mine.

"Jacob!"

"Fuck, Nessie!"

The orgasm caught me hard, slamming through my body and nailed me in the back. My hips arched into hers and my release jerked into her. It seemed to go on forever as her body milked mine. My ass tightened as another orgasm hit me when she moaned my name again.

Damn, the fact that I was the one she was calling out for just flat out did it for me. Her body milked me and I was happy to oblige. Hot jets went into her, filling her up. Even after she'd let go of my forearms and had fallen to the bed, I kept my grip on her hips and pressed one last thrust into her.

"Yes, Jacob," she breathed. "Take me."

And I did. The orgasms just kept coming as her muscles contracted over and over again. And eventually, she regained enough strength to orgasm again herself. She writhed beneath me on the bed, still pushing her body back to mine.

Leaning over her, I slid my palms down over her ass, squeezed for a brief moment, and went around to the tops of her thighs, holding her against me. My hips started moving again, but not as far out. It took me a moment to realize that my hips were moving in a circular motion which made the flesh inside of Nessie make circles as well, still coaxing an orgasm out of her.

"Nessie," I groaned, practically sprawling on top of her as I pressed further into her.

Those little whimpering noises came again. Another giant orgasm was coming for her. On a sudden impulse, I moved my fingers over a little and found the nub at the top of her sex, the one my thumb usually took residence over.

A couple of strokes and a scream left her. It was a rough sort of gasp sound that had power to it as she convulsed again underneath me. Her orgasm brought on another for me, the alpha male in me wanting to keep up with her and pleasure her at the same time. My orgasming with her would help make hers better. Again, I filled her up as my whole body went rigid, the muscles tightening.

Once she went still under me, my body seemed to understand that we were drained, literally. If I'd thought she was liquid before, it was nothing compared to what she was now. She was utterly boneless as I collapsed on top of her. On my way down to the bed, I wrapped my arms around her and managed to turn myself around so that I was on my side and she was pressed to my chest.

Moving her hair out of the way, I brushed my lips against the skin of her shoulders.

"We're going to need another shower," she croaked.

I laughed. "Yeah, I think you're right."

She snuggled back into my chest, hugging my arms to her. "Well, whoever can walk first can have the first one."

"I take it you can't?"

She shook her head. "Are you kidding? I feel like a wet noodle. A well-cooked wet noodle."

I ran my lips over her skin gently, placing kisses here and there. "Is that a compliment?"

Nessie turned so that she could press a kiss to my jaw and smiled at me. "Absolutely. That was amazing, Jake." She snuggled up to me again, wiggling her hips a little. "I love being yours. I loved it when you took me like that just now."

A little growl came out of me. "Well, then we'll have to do it again."

"Mmm, can't wait."

"Me either."

**RPOV**

Lying here with Jacob was the most perfect handful of heartbeats I'd ever had so far. We were so close and connected that I finally felt a sense of completion with myself, with who I was, who I wanted to be. And slowly, feeling started to come back into my legs. My hips were sore again, but this time from where he'd gripped them to hold on. There was also a new sting from where our bodies had slapped together. But it was still amazing. I loved every ache I had.

Rubbing his arms where they wrapped around me, I felt something odd. Looking down, I saw little half-moon indentions in his skin. Most of them were filled with blood.

"Jacob, are you ok?"

He seemed to know what I was talking about. "Yeah, Nessie." He kissed my shoulder. "Like I said, it's a good hurt. And that's how I know when you're about to come."

A furious blush raced across my face, but I said, "What do you mean?"

A deep chuckle came out of him. It was a proud, smug sound. "You tighten your hold and break the skin when you orgasm. But it's ok. I like it."

At that moment, his stomach let out a furious grumble, which made us both laugh. Until mine joined in. Damn, we hadn't eaten. Well, it might still be warm. Before I could snuggle down and go back to sleep, I wriggled out of his arms and went for the bathroom. What Jacob had pumped into me had to come out, so I waited and did a little jig to help it along. When it did, I took pride as I watched the white liquid seep down my thighs. There was a lot more of it this time around than there had been from last night. And I took it as a good thing as I cleaned myself up. I really didn't want to, but knew I had to. Plus, there'd be other times. Lots of them.

Once I was done with myself, I took a wet washcloth out to Jake, who was still lounging on the bed, and then went for the closet that had two robes. One was a deep purple for me. The other was black and huge for Jacob.

"You know," he drawled from the bed. "If you can walk this soon after, then I must not be doing my job well enough."

Laughing, I tied the sash around my waist and then crawled up over him so that my knees were on either side of his legs and my hands were planted into the mattress at his shoulders.

"You did a damn fine job and you know it. This time, though, you really were the one doing all the work. You held me up. I had more time to recover." Leaning in, I pressed a kiss to his lips. "I love you, Jacob Black. And you were perfect."

He returned the kiss and pressed a hand over my heart under the robe. "I love you, too, Nessie. And you felt perfect, too."

We grinned at each other before I crawled off the bed and went for the stairs. I didn't turn when I heard Jacob slide off the bed. If I saw him naked again, we weren't going to leave this damn cabin. Not that that would be a bad thing. But I knew that people were waiting for us. The real world was holding its breath for us to go back down to the big Cullen house and deal with the things that needed to be dealt with.

"Why don't you take a shower, Jake? I'm gonna reheat breakfast."

I saw him nod in my peripheral vision. "Good idea."

He ducked into the bathroom and I went for the stairs again. Breakfast wasn't ruined. It was still warm, partly because I'd shoved it all into the oven at the lowest heat setting before I'd gone to check on Jake.

Him taking another shower gave me time to get the bacon done. That had been the one thing I hadn't yet done. By the time he came back up, everything was ready and set out on the table.

He kissed my forehead and sat down. "Looks delicious, baby. Thank you."

"Anything for you, Jacob."

We smiled that special couple's smile over our plates. I ran my foot up and down the jeans he'd put on as we ate. He reached over and took the end of one of my curls between his fingers so he could tug at it. Man, this was great. We were back to our comfortable company silences. The kind that he'd had long before we'd ever actually gotten together. Except now, we _knew_ knew each other, in every way. And it was nice. No embarrassment now. We'd made love. He knew I was naked under this robe. He'd touched every inch of my body, those big hands played over my skin. And now that it had happened, I realized that I was now comfortable with myself because of his acceptance of me. I'd been scared that he might have found something he didn't like. He'd been in love with my mother, and my body was very different from hers.

"You are different from her," he said in a low voice, making me jump. "And I love every single part of you."

I'd been projecting again, but that was ok. He didn't want me to hide anymore. And there was no reason to. We were ok now.

And I was determined to make sure that we stayed that way.

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**So how do you guys feel? Was that one better, worse, or the same? Questions, comments, or concerns are all welcome in review- and PM-landia so please don't hesitate! Your reviews help keep me going :) Luv you guys xoxoxoxoxoxo**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11. The ring and Edward. The whole reaction part is so not gonna be what you guys are expecting. Go Jacob! I'm madly in love with him now. Oh and there's some Shelby and Seth sweetness here, too. And I positively love the end of this chapter. It might be short but that's where I wanted to end it.**

***Disclaimer***

**Please Enjoy!**

* * *

**ShelbyPOV**

I'd been pacing the damn living room since the moment I woke up. Well, actually the first few minutes after my eyes opened, I was in the bathroom throwing my guts up. But after that, I took to doing laps around the house. Worried was an understatement.

Nessie had just taken off without a word. Although I knew she was either at one of the cabins or on the rez, I still wanted to know where she was specifically and that she was safe. And the bitch wouldn't answer her phone. Not one response. And nobody else would say anything. I'd been in the shower when the whole thing had gone down and not one of the Cullens wanted to talk about it. And Edward looked like death warmed over. Which had naturally made me go ape-shit. The look was one of regret. He'd done or said something, or both, that he wished he could take back.

And likewise, Jacob was gone. He hadn't come back to the house last night even though Alice had commented that she'd seen him.

"Shelby, if you don't stop pacing, I'm going to have a stroke," Seth said from the couch. He'd been watching me all morning.

"No, you won't. You're just waiting on me to get sick again. And I told you, I'm fine now. I held down breakfast, didn't I?"

He sighed and braced his elbows on his knees. "That's not the point. If you're pregnant, I don't want you to hurt yourself or the baby. Stress isn't good for either one."

I paused by the large picture window and stared out over the woods. "Seth, we both know I'm pregnant. And to hell with the stress stuff. Tell Nessie that crap. Better yet, tell her to answer her damn-,"

Movement in the shadow cast by the edge of the tress had me pausing. I heard Seth stand up and come over to me. He wrapped his arms around my waist and rested his chin on top of my head.

"What is it?"

We both watched as the shrubs shook. A moment later, Nessie burst out from them. She was looking behind her with a wide smile on her face and a throaty laugh leaving her. Not two seconds later, Jacob burst out from the shrubs grinning like the wolf he was. Those eyes were locked on Nessie, the promise of sex riding around him like lightening. It was clear in the look that he'd become her alpha male. He'd accepted his role as the dominant of the two of them. He'd taken her and marked her as his, and any guy that dared to come near her with thoughts that he shouldn't be having would end up with a broken face and eating his own teeth.

From here, I could see the bite mark on the side of her neck. And he had scratches on both sides of his, no doubt made from her nails. And with my newly sharpened vision, I could see the marks in his skin on his wrists and the deep bite on his shoulder around the edge of his ribbed-tank.

They were both glowing with love, lust, sex, and most of all, devotion and forgiveness.

"Holy. Shit," Seth whispered into my ear.

My thoughts exactly. So, that's where they'd been. Seth and I watched as Nessie let Jacob pull her into his arms, lean her back, and take her lips in a fierce kiss. He reached up and pulled her hair out of the knot it was already in danger of coming out of and ran his fingers through it as it cascaded down her back. One of his hands snaked down to her hip and pulled her in tight to him. She broke the kiss to tilt her head back, close her eyes, and open her lips. No doubt she was letting out an erotic sigh.

Laughing, Jake leaned into her ear and whispered something. At least, I assume he whispered something because Nessie's face scrunched up in a questioning expression. She opened her eyes and looked up at his grinning face. Taking the hand that was at her hip, he dug into the pocket of his jeans, let her go, and went down on one knee.

A gasp left me as my hand went to my mouth. "Oh my God," I whispered.

Nessie had the same thought. I knew that because her hand had gone to her lips, tears coming to her eyes as she nodded frantically and gave Jacob her left hand. With another satisfied, happy smile, he slipped the ring back onto her finger, stood up, and took her lips again. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders when he lifted her feet up off the ground and swung her around. The kiss broke and she tilted her head back for another laugh.

Their happiness brought a grin to my face and tears to my eyes. Finally. They'd gone and forgiven each other. Seth's arms tightened around my waist gently. His lips brushed my neck as we watched our best friends have their little slice of heaven.

After a few moments of them just holding each other, they turned to come back for the house. Jacob wrapped and arm around her waist and she slipped a hand into the back pocket of his jeans.

Luckily, they'd have some time to acclimate back to being around here before getting trampled by the 'rents. Bella and Edward were at their cottage, no doubt talking about what went down. I still didn't know. And Seth had been out on patrol for another wolf.

As we heard them come up the porch steps, Seth and I shared a look. Nah, we weren't going to pretend like we hadn't seen that just now. It was a sweet moment, one full of love. And I'm glad I hadn't missed it. It was the healing that they'd both needed and being a witness to it had been a beautiful moment.

They walked into the living room still entwined around each other. Seth and I turned to face with them with big grins stretched over our faces. Nessie took one look at us and tried her hardest not to grin and blush, but she failed…miserably.

"I knew it!" I said, her blush a confirmation. "The two of you totally had sex."

The grin stretched over her face and Jacob pulled her into his chest so that she could hide her face. He was grinning, too, as he leaned over to kiss her hair.

"Welcome back, man," Seth said going forward to pound knuckles with Jacob.

"Thanks," Jacob said. His voice was much deeper than it normally was. "It's good to be back." His eyes turned wary as he looked around the room. "So, where is everybody?"

"If you're looking for Edward, he's at the cottage with Bella. They'll probably be here soon to see if you guys came back," Seth said.

I crossed my arms over my chest and narrowed my eyes at Nessie. "Yeah. And someone didn't answer her phone. We've been wondering where the hell you took off to. I was in the shower and nobody told me a damn thing when it all went down."

Her eyes went to the floor with guilt. "Sorry. I just needed some time to get my shit together. And then Jacob showed up."

I couldn't help my grin. "Oh, yeah. And you guys totally talked all night."

Jacob chuckled and pulled her closer as she blushed again. "Yup, and it was one of the best conversations of my life. This morning's was great, too."

"Jacob!" Nessie said with a laugh.

"What? It's true." He pressed his lips to hers. "I wouldn't trade them for anything."

Abruptly, the house became busy in a flurry of activity. The Cullens came in through the kitchen. They'd been out doing their own patrols alongside the wolves. Esme ended up in the kitchen to fire up lunch for those of us who had to eat. Carlisle sat down at the kitchen table with his laptop. Jasper studied our little group from one of the corners of the room, reading our emotions. Now doubt he was making mental reports to Edward about our grids. Just out of sight, I knew that Alice had gone into the dining room. There was a frown on her face as if she were concentrating while she fingered one of her planning books. Emmett and Rosalie were firing up the television and game systems.

As the door to the kitchen opened one last time, the house froze. This was the showdown we were waiting for. No doubt Nessie had told or showed Jacob about what had happened. And I was dying to know, although I probably wouldn't find out the details til after Jacob swept the floor with his soon-to-be father-in-law's ass.

Edward's expression when he walked in flickered. Pissed Off warred with I Totally Deserved This and My Daughter's All Grown Up. But that didn't save him.

Jacob's growl was low and very dangerous as it ripped through the room. A second later, Edward was pinned to the wall with Jacob at his throat.

**JPOV**

I didn't really care how sorry Edward was. He'd crossed the line last night with Nessie, and I was going to make sure that it wouldn't happen again. Once the shock wore off from the rest of the Cullens, Emmett tried to grab my arm and haul me back, but Jasper grabbed his attention and shook his head. I leaned into the forearm I had across Edward's throat even though he didn't need to breathe.

"Jacob!" Bella cried out as I bared my teeth in her husband's face.

"Stay out of this, Bella," I growled out.

"Mom, don't." Nessie's voice was stern.

"But he can't just…Jacob, you can't just go attacking people like this." Her voice was high with fear but also tinged with anger.

I ignored her and concentrated on the vampire in front of me. "Listen up 'cause I'm only gonna say this once. If you _ever_ lose your temper like that around her again, you _ever_ threaten her in any way, I will not hesitate to light your ass on fire. And we'd better be clear because this is the only warning you're gonna get." Easing back a little, I looked around the room and out the windows. We'd run into Derek and Adam on the way here and I'd told them to gather who they could around the house. "That goes for any of you, pack or Cullen. Any threat to my mate and I will not hesitate to take you to the ground. Your only warning, so remember it."

One last shove into Edward's throat, and I pushed away from him to go back to Nessie. Shelby had come to stand beside her, threading her fingers through the other woman's. Shelby let go of Nessie so that I could take her into my arms protectively. Standing there, I met every pair of eyes around me that I could so that they'd know I was fucking serious. They were all my family, but Nessie was my future. Together, she and I would create the leaders of a future pack. Our descendants had to protect Forks and La Push. And I'd be damned if anything or anybody was going to harm the mother of my future children.

One by one, the Cullens all nodded at me. And the wolves bowed at the neck. Last but not least, I met Edward's eyes with a dare for him to go against me. He didn't. He just stared from me to Nessie and back again.

"I should be angry with you for taking her innocence before marrying her, but, as my wife once told me, the two of you are not us. You see the world differently, and I must respect that. And now that that ring is back on my daughter's finger, I should like very much for a wedding to be planned so that I can walk her to the man she's destined to be with." His eyes went to Nessie, and his voice choked up. "I am so very sorry for how I treated you yesterday. There are no excuses and I will not try to make any. Jacob had every right to do what he just did. I apologize sincerely to the both of you for my actions. And I will completely understand if neither of you wish to have anything to do with me."

With that, Nessie looked up at me with sad eyes. She believed she'd deserved what he'd said, but not the manner in which he'd said it. And his apology broke her heart because this was the one and only time that he'd ever lost his temper in the decade that I'd known him. And this one time was at the one miracle that he'd never expected. He expected to lose her and it had been there in his voice.

Nessie unwound herself from me and went to stand in front of him. They stared at each other for a long moment before she wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face in his shoulder. His arms tentatively wrapped around her as if he were scared she'd pull away. When she didn't, he hugged her tight and squeezed his eyes closed.

"You are my father," she whispered. "And I love you. I will always love you. And I will always be my daddy's little girl."

For about three heartbeats, we all stood there, watching them as they held on to each other. But Shelby's patience always wore thin.

"Thank God. Now, can Seth and I take the test?"

That broke the tension. We all laughed and turned to her. Seth pressed a kiss to her temple. Carlisle disappeared and came back in two seconds with a box in his hands. Though Shelby's voice had been strong and resolute, her hand shook as she reached out to take the box. Nessie extracted herself from her father's hold and went over to take her best friend's hand.

"We'll be right back," she said to the room as she led Shelby to the downstairs bathroom.

As the girls disappeared down the back hallway, Edward came forward. The room went silent again as he stopped in front of me and held out his hand.

"I couldn't ask for a better son-in-law to keep my daughter safe."

With the understanding that I would cut down any threat to her running between us, I shook his hand.

**RPOV**

It was great to have gotten all that out of the way. And the ring on my finger let me know how much I'd missed it. But my sole concern right now was Shelby. She was nervous. Her heart was fluttering quickly and loudly, and her palm was clammy in mine.

She'd insisted on me staying with her the whole time, so I held her hand and turned my back while she did her thing over the loo.

She sniffled. "Ugh, I can't believe I'm nervous. I mean, we pretty much already know that I am."

I squeezed her hand. "It's the fact that we'll know for sure and you'll have check-ups and ultrasounds."

"Oh, stop talking. Please, Nessie. You're making me wanna hurl."

I laughed. "How long do we have to wait?" I asked as she flushed, recapped the test, and stood next to me while she put it on the counter.

"I think, like, three minutes."

I took my phone out of my pocket to check the time.

"Nessie?"

"Hmm?"

"Was Jake good to you?" When I looked at her, she blushed. "I mean, I know that you two made love. I just wanna make sure that you're ok. Or if you wanna talk about it, you know, while we wait."

My sigh was one of complete bliss while my fingers played over the bite mark on my neck. "Shelby, he-he was amazing. I was a lot sore after last night but I worked out the kinks, and this morning? Shelby, he was everything male. It was raw. We both were."

She nodded. "It makes sense. Like I said, he's the dominant, alpha male. You're his woman, his female. I'd be surprised if you weren't sore and worked out good."

"Was I ever. He was gentle but not overtly so. It was perfect. No embarrassment or I'm-sorrys. Just raw passion."

She patted my arm. "Welcome to maturity. Isn't it grand?"

We laughed at the same time. "Definitely."

She sighed and took my phone out of my hand. "Alright, let's get this over with." She leaned over to the counter a little before she shook her head and stepped back. "I can't do this. Nessie, I'm going to be a coward and ask you to do it."

Smiling gently at her, I squeezed her hand and leaned over the counter. A little plus sign showed up in the little window. Leaning back against the wall, I tried to hold in my excitement.

"It's positive, isn't it?" she demanded after scrutinizing my face.

"Why don't you see for yourself? It'll ground you better, be more real."

Glaring at me, she took a deep breath. And leaned over. I knew when she saw the result because her hand convulsed on mine and her breathing became rapid. There was a knock on the door, and she shook her head frantically at me.

"Shelby? You ok?" Seth's voice was gentle but worried.

Given the sheen of tears and the layer of fear in her eyes, I knew she wouldn't want him to see her like this. She just didn't know how to feel even though she'd known that she was carrying a child. Fear still hit her hard.

Moving around her, but keeping hold of her hand, I went to the door and opened it a crack. "She needs a minute, Seth. We'll be out in a sec."

His eyes went over my head and then met mine. His voice lowered to a whisper. "Is she ok?"

"Just give us a minute, ok? She's a little…conflicted at the moment."

That right there told him the result of the test. Emotions flickered over his face before he shut them down. "Take care of her," he pleaded.

"I will," I promised and shut the door softly.

The moment I turned back to her, Shelby burst into tears and shielded her face with her hands. I took her into my arms and stroked her hair. Rocking her gently, I picked up the test just be sure that I'd read it right. I had. The little plus sign was still there.

"What is it, Shelby. Talk to me."

She hiccupped a few times, and then talked into my shoulder. "I'm happy. Don't get me wrong, I am. But I'm still terrified. And yeah, I already knew I was p-p-pregnant but it's different now."

"I know, sweetie."

"I know you and Seth have told me that I'm not my mother. It's not that I'm terrified for me. I'm terrified for the baby. What if something happens and I lose Seth? I won't want to live if that happens, not even for the baby. At least I don't think I would. Or what happens if I died in childbirth and left Seth alone? Would he want the baby?"

I stroked her hair a little more and let her cry. But after a few minutes, I pulled her back by the shoulders and looked her in the eye. "Shelbs, I can't promise you that something bad won't happen. I wish I could, but I can't. However, I do know that Seth would _never_ abandon your child and neither would you, even if something happened to one or the other. And if something happened to both of you, Jake and I would be here. The pack would be here. We'd take care of the child. _That_ is a promise I can make, and keep."

Her eyes calmed back into the realm of sanity while her hands went to her stomach. "You and Jake would be there?"

"Yes."

"Every step, you'll be there with me?"

"Absolutely, Shelby. You're my best friend. And I know I haven't spent a lot of time with you lately, but we'll change that. Lots of girl time for us. I won't leave you when you need me the most. And neither will Seth. Or Jacob. He cares about you, too."

I watched as the Shelby I knew and loved came back to the surface of this scared stranger. Her chest and shoulders rose with deep, calming breaths. Slender hands played over her stomach as thoughts of the future played through her eyes. When she finally met my eyes again, she was back.

She lifted her chin and said, "Let's go."

Taking my hand, she opened the door and took the test from me as we marched down the hallway. When we reached the living room though, she froze. Pack members and Cullens alike were gathered, worry written on their faces as they turned to us expectantly. Jacob was standing next to Seth, hand clamped over his beta's shoulder. Leah was holding one of her brother's hands, squeezing his fingers while Caden massaged her shoulders. Morgan and Christa were actually in the same room together, both with worried expressions and taking up space on the same wall. Even Sam had come up with Leila and was talking to Carlisle.

Shelby turned to me, tears and joy in her eyes. "I really do have a family, now, don't I?"

I nodded with a gentle smile. "Of course you do. We'll be with you and Seth every step of the way. You don't have to be alone anymore, Shelby."

Her grin was breathtaking in its joy. She hugged me and then turned to the room. They'd all paused to listen to our exchange.

"Then I guess we need to start celebrating for a baby on the way."

The room went up into cheers as Seth crossed the room with a giant grin on his face as he scooped her up into his arms and swung her around. She laughed and showed him the test. Outside, wolves howled their joy to the moon. And the entire time, Jacob was watching me. I blew a kiss to him and he caught it, pressing his fist over his heart.

**ShelbyPOV**

My heart had exploded the moment I'd seen the results, but I hadn't allowed myself to feel the happiness until I'd seen all the wolves and vampires gathered in the living room to hear the results. They'd all looked genuinely concerned about me and my well-being. But the thing that pushed me to the point of utter joy was seeing Leila in Sam's arms. She was so small, and yet so loved. She brought joy to all parties. Everyone took care of her and made sure that she was ok. And with that realization, I'd come to the revelation that my child would be loved the same way. I wasn't a Quileute wolf, but I was mated to one. And ever since I'd come into the picture, they'd treated me like I was one of them, even when I'd been human.

This was a family, and I was a part of it. So looking down into Seth's eyes, I grinned as wide as I could and pressed a kiss to his lips. He broke the kiss to put his lips to my ear.

"Are you really happy?"

Pulled back so he could see my face, I smiled and nodded. "I truly am. I guess I just didn't want to be relieved that it was positive, but in reality, I want this. I want something good to grow from our relationship, and that's the opportunity we've been given. I would be stupid to hate it."

As he grinned up at me, I realized that the room had gone silent. Until a throat cleared. Carlisle stepped forward. Seth let me slip down his body so that I was tucked up into his side under his arm.

"In light of this wonderful news, we, the Cullens, have a gift for the two of you."

He slipped a hand into his pocket as Seth's hand tightened on my shoulder. I looked up at him with a question. The answer I got was the sound of a set of keys ringing. Gaze swinging back to Carlisle, I felt my eyes widen.

He grinned. "As a growing family, you'll want your own place to raise it. To plant that seed, to grow roots. The cabin won't be ready for another week or so. That should give you plenty of time to get your things packed for the move to your new home."

One hand went to my mouth to cover the fact that my jaw had hit the floor, and the other had moved down to my stomach where our seed was currently growing. It took a moment for me to realize that I was crying and shaking my head. When I looked up at Seth, there was relief and gratitude.

"Thank you," he said warmly, reaching out to take the keys from him. He handed me one of the keys and then pressed his hand to my stomach.

As everyone cheered again, Alice pranced over to Edward. They had a silent conversation. When they both looked over at me, I knew what they wanted to do so I nodded. This would be perfect.

Alice rang another set of keys. "Ok, everyone. And now, I have a little announcement of my own." She turned to face Jacob and Nessie were snuggled up to each other. "Now that the happy expectant couple has humbly accepted their gift, we have also decided that they need neighbors. Neighbors who are much like them." Nessie's hand flew to her own mouth and she turned to stare at me with her own tears. "Jacob and Nessie have recommenced their engagement, and so we've gone back to the idea of gifting them with the cabin that has played home to many a pivotal moment in their lives and relationship."

I nodded to Nessie and she turned to Jacob who was looking equally stunned.

"What?" he said even though he'd heard.

"We're giving you a house, jackass," Emmett said, making the room fall into laughter.

The couple shared another look before Nessie reached out a shaking hand to accept the keys.

"We had it re-keyed and an alarm system is being put into place tomorrow morning," Alice said. "We were going to give the place a make-over, but Shelby was right. If we did that, it wouldn't be your place. You should be the ones to give it a lift if you think it needs one."

"Thank you," Jacob said. "Thank you so damn much. It means a lot to us. To all four of us."

Edward spoke up. "The dominant couples should have their own homes and be able to have space to call the pack to them. It's perfect all the way around. And you'd be right between the reservation and here. Close but not too close."

Nessie came over to me while Seth went over to stand with Jacob and Edward. "What did she meant that you were right?"

I shrugged as nonchalantly as I could. "I may have been the one to suggest that you get the cabin as an engagement present."

"Did you know you were getting the other one?"

I shook my head. "No. That-that was the biggest surprise. I mean, Seth and I had been talking about what we would do if we were pregnant. We knew we'd have to find our own place, but this? This is incredible."

We reached for each other at the same time. The hug was intense and so full of all the sisterly love that we hadn't been able to give over the past few days. I'd missed Nessie so much and had wanted her be herself again. And now we'd come to this moments as women, not the girls we'd been when we'd first met. I was going to be a mother, and she was soon to be a wife, maybe a mother too eventually.

"I've missed you, Ness," I whispered as tears fell into her hair.

She squeezed me. "I've missed you, too, Shelbs. We're in this together. Always."

Pulling back, I held out my fist with my pinky out. She grinned, wiped her eyes, and wrapped her pinky to mine.

"Always," I said.

"Always," she promised.

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**Hmm, yes. I must say I enjoyed this one, especially when Seth and Shelbs were watching Nessie and Jacob at the beginning. I love that little scene. So please review. They make me happy :) xoxoxoxoxo**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12. Yeah I'm on a roll. No more four days between updates. Well, at least, I hope. Anywhozzle, a lot of you loved the last chapter, and it was a favorite of mine. And a lot of you are wanting a wedding. I'm might possibly be trying to get that to happen at the end of this story, so just bear with me. We'll see.**

***Disclaimer***

**Please Enjoy!**

* * *

**RPOV**

Later that night, I was straddling Jacob's hips and lying back against his legs. His feet were propped up on the mattress, his back to the headboard, and I was being held in the cradle of his body. He was playing with the end of one of my curls while I twisted my engagement ring around and around.

I needed to talk to Aunt Alice about getting Jacob one made. It would be nice to have a matching set.

"I still can't believe they gave us the cabin," he said pulling me out of my thoughts.

I nodded. "I know. It's crazy. A whole place to ourselves. And then Seth and Shelby? They get the other cabin and a positive result all in one day. Their heads must be spinning."

"I know mine would be. Man, Seth's gonna be a great dad. And Shelby? Absolutely fantastic mom."

"You really think so?"

He nodded. "Yeah. I mean, the fact that she's nervous and still scared about it tells me that she's serious about it. Which is good. That kid's gonna be in great hands."

"Definitely."

In a move so fast I couldn't catch it, Jacob managed to flip us around so that I was on my back underneath him. A very high pitched squeak left me as I hit the mattress. He settled his weight perfectly on top of me and I loved the feel of him there. I was warm and safe as long as I with him. Running my hands up his thick arms, I leaned up to kiss the underside of his jaw.

He leaned down to press his lips to mine. "I wanna get married."

I laughed. "I know, Jake. That's why there's a ring on my finger."

"No," he shook his head. "I mean as soon as possible. I want you to be my wife. And I want to be your husband."

Looking into his face, he was utterly serious. I stroked his face. "Ok, Jacob. I'll see what I can do with Aunt Alice and the girls."

He nodded, turned his head, and pressed a kiss into my wrist. "I need you," he whispered.

A slow grin spread over my face. "Again?"

Not seeing the expression on my face, he shook his head and pulled back. "Sorry-,"

I gripped the sides of his face and made him look at me. "No, don't be. I like that you tell me that. And that you need me like that. Don't ever be sorry. And you don't have to ask my permission to make love to me. Remember? You're the Alpha male. You can go even over my head."

His eyes flashed to me in surprise. "So you want me to tell you every time the urge comes up?" He sounded skeptical.

I placed my lips over his. "Tell me." Moved down to his jaw. "Show me." A further down to the spot over his heart. "Take me."

A small growl rumbled up and out of him. "I think you might be underestimating how much I want you at any given time. There may be days we don't get out of the house if you really mean that."

My grin was pure lust. "And?"

His grin was pure sex as his hips flexed into mine. He was already hard and thick behind his sleep sweats. And my panties were already damp as he rubbed against me. My head punched back into the fluffy blankets as he nuzzled his way down my throat and moved the t-shirt out of the way. A half a second later, he leaned back and frowned.

"What?" I asked.

"I'm your alpha male, right?"

I nodded. "You're my only male, and definitely my alpha."

He ground his hips into me and bit his lower lip.

"Why do you ask?" I said breathlessly, trying to hold on to sanity as his hips kept rotating.

"Because I'm thinking of ordering you to start sleeping naked so I don't have to swim through all these layers to get to your skin."

That made me laugh. I'd been worried he'd been thinking too hard about something. But in all honesty, I'd been the one with the stupid hang-ups, not him. I decided to tease him out of relief.

"And you think I'd comply with that order?"

He growled low. "You'd better."

"Says who?"

"Me."

"Or what?"

The growl he let out vibrated over my skin. Through hooded eyes, I watched as he reached up, took the old t-shirt of his that I wore to bed in two fists, and ripped it down the middle with nothing but brute strength. And that just shot me up even higher, my body rushing for him. His tongue found the skin of my waist that started just above my panties and moved in a slow, sensual glide up the center of my torso, between my breasts, and up my neck where he finished with a kiss behind my ear.

"I'll rip them off you myself," he whispered in a low growl.

My nails raked over his skin as my hands went up his arms and across his shoulders. A low rumble sounded in his chest.

"Mmm, I think I could live with that," I whispered. I took one of his hands and thrust is against my core and we both shouted out.

"Oh, god, Nessie," he grunted.

"Show me who's boss, Jacob.

His hand moved over. Another rip sounded as my body jerked. At least I wasn't attached to those panties, either. And after they ended up on the floor, Jacob and I performed an encore of my taking from last night.

**JPOV**

The sunshine coming from the window-wall pulled me up into consciousness, but it was Nessie's elbow in my ribs that completely woke me up.

"Ow, Ness. What was that fo-,"

The scream that came out of her was loud and shrill enough to wake the dead…in Scotland. My body moved before my mind gave it the command. Before she could start swinging, I pushed my body on top of hers and held her arms between us. Her eyes were closed down tight, tears rolling down from them. With my hands busy, I couldn't put a hand over her mouth so that she wouldn't wake Seth and Shelby.

When I heard feet pounding down the hallway, I yelled, "Don't you dare open that door! Just stay out there." Nobody was going to see her like this. We were both naked with the sheets around our waists. I didn't care if they saw me, but nobody was seeing her body. Nobody but me.

"Jacob, what's going on?" Bella's voice was panicked and terrified.

Before I could answer, Nessie screamed again and then whimpered. Moving so that her arms were trapped between our bodies, I brought my hand up to her hair and forehead.

"We're coming in," Shelby said.

"No," I said with a command. Shelby wasn't my wolf, but Seth would know the tone and hold her back. "Stay out there. She's having another nightmare. Let me wake her up. She wouldn't want you to see her like this." When they didn't respond and didn't barge in anyway, I focused solely on her. "Nessie, wake up." I stroked her hair back away from her sweaty skin. "Baby, please wake up."

Nothing. She wasn't responding at all to me. Her nightmare captured her so completely that my begging was cut off. Fine. Though she wasn't a wolf, she responded to commands.

"Nessie," I said firmly in my deepest Alpha tone I had. Her body immediately stilled under me. "Renesmee Black." At her future name, the tension left her. "Wake up. Right now." By the way she moved against me, I knew she was fighting whatever dark thing she was facing in her subconscious. She was battling to follow the orders of her alpha male, clawing to get back to me. My fingers caressed her forehead. "Now, Nessie. Not later. Now." I probably shouldn't have been pushing her like this, but I was terrified that if I stopped talking, she'd be pulled back under.

To my relief, a moment later, her eyes fluttered and her lips parted to take a shaky breath.

"Jacob?"

My body didn't chill out until I saw her eyes focus on me. I had to know she was awake. When they did manage to focus on my face, my muscles gave out, making me land on top of her.

"Thank god," I breathed into her hair.

She slowly worked her arms out from between us so that she could wrap them around my shoulders and stroke my back.

"Sorry I scared you," she whispered stroking my hair. "At least you came back before it got too bad."

Leaning back, I studied her face. "Nessie, I didn't leave."

She frowned. "What?"

"I didn't leave the bed. I've been next to you since last night. You elbowed me in the ribs. That's what woke me up, and then you started screaming. Do you remember what you saw?"

Her frown deepened as she sank back into the pillows. I was probably heavy as hell on top of her, but I didn't want to move. The need to touch her and feel her against me was pounding through my blood.

"It's more what I didn't see, I guess. Just a bunch of shadows."

The bedroom door shuddered when someone pounded on it. "I swear by all that's holy, if you don't let Seth let me in that room, I'm gonna mess you up, Jake. Let. Me. In."

I rolled my eyes. Shelby was like that sister-in-law that you got along with most of the time, but when things got tense, she was crawling all over your ass.

Looking back down at Nessie, I asked, "Are you ok?"

She nodded and ran her hands over my back. "Thank you for waking me up. You ordered me awake, didn't you?"

I nodded. "It was the only thing I could think of. And it worked."

"Well, thank you."

I pressed a kiss to her lips. "Any time. That's what I'm here for, to take care of you."

She grinned and kissed me back. I rolled off her going for the closet. "Give me a sec, Shelby."

An angry sigh came from the other side. "I've given you plenty, but you're right. I don't need to see her naked. Or you for that matter."

I shot a glare at the door before ducking into the closet. I pulled on a pair of boxers and grabbed a pair of shorts and one of my old t-shirts for Nessie. And I insisted on putting the clothes on her. It made me feel better to be the one to take care of her. When I was done sliding the shorts up her long legs and over her hips, she gave me a kiss and snuggled up to my chest. I sat there in the middle of the bed just holding her against me.

"You can come in now, Shelby," I called.

The door burst open and a very focused best friend stomped into the room. She came straight for Nessie. The male in me didn't like giving up my female but I allowed Shelby to take Nessie into her arms. She stroked her long curls down her back.

"Are you ok? You scared the crap out of me."

Bella was next and then Seth. Edward came in with a hot cup of something that smelled like hot chocolate. Nessie extracted herself from Shelby's hold to scoot back against the headboard. She took the mug from him in hands that were covered with the shirt sleeves.

"Thanks, Daddy." She took a sip and melted back into the pillows. I moved to sit next to her and lifted my arm in invitation. She took it and leaned into my body. Nessie seemed to realize that Shelby was staring a hole into her head because she gave out a weak chuckle. "Yes, Shelby, I'm ok. Sorry I scared everyone." She frowned.

"What is it?" Bella asked.

Nessie shook her head as if she'd been thinking really hard about something. "I just wish I could remember what it was about. Just shadows. That's it. I can remember everything before the cabin, but once that fire starts up, pieces get cut out. I just don't understand."

"Well, if that was the most traumatic part of that night for you, it would make sense that your mind is protecting you from it. The nightmares could be that those missing pieces are trying to break through," Carlisle said from the doorway. "I mean, you're not stressed out anymore. You and Jacob seem to be getting along just fine."

"Yeah, but for months I was ok, not stressed out, and they weren't like this. Not to mention," she said, motioning to me. "Jacob said he didn't leave my side. Even he couldn't keep this one away."

Carlisle shrugged. "Again, it makes sense. Your entire being feels safe with Jacob. It does make sense that your mind is freeing itself up when he's around. I can't explain why it's popping up now, but I can guess that it has something to do with you maturing in the past couple days. You've been through a lot with Jacob and got through it. Maybe your subconscious is thinking that you're strong enough to handle what it's kept secret from you."

From where he was standing in the doorway, I could see Edward's frown.

"What is it, Edward?" I asked.

He shook his head. "There's something about this nightmare that was different than the others that she was having when you weren't near her."

"And that would be…?" Shelby asked.

Again with the head shake. "I don't know. It's like, everybody's mind has a certain tone. This nightmare wasn't the same tone as the others. There's something..."

"Fabricated?" said a smooth accented voice.

Everybody turned to face the hallway. Caden and Leah were standing there. His eyes were on Nessie.

"Mine have been feeling the same way," he said. "I'm missing bits and pieces."

"Hmm, maybe we should sit down and go through the events of that night," Carlisle suggested.

Nessie shivered beside me as if that thought scared her. I wasn't thrilled with the idea either, but maybe it would hold the key to these nightmares. It was something worth trying for if we could get rid of them. I squeezed her shoulders.

"Maybe later, Doc. She needs some time to cool down."

He nodded in a way that also seemed like a bow. "Of course."

Thankfully, everyone took that as their cue to leave. Edward and Bella came to kiss their daughter on the forehead reluctantly. Shelby gave her one last hug and a "if you need to talk" before she left with Seth.

"Caden," Nessie called as the couple turned to leave. When he turned back with a question on his face, Nessie lowered her voice and eyes. "Later, when we go through all that, will…will you be there? Will you help me?"

His expression turned soft as he walked across the room and took her hand. "Of course, Nessie. I wouldn't let you go through that alone." He kissed her knuckles, gave me a nod, and walked out with Leah's hand in his.

**RPOV**

Caden's promise reassured me, calming me a little. He'd been there with me that night. Those members of his old pack had beaten him to a pulp and he'd gone through so much pain at the hands of…of whom? Pain sliced through my temples. Man, I remembered being seated in a chair while he was strung up to a rafter in that tiny cabin. He'd started convulsing and I yelled at someone, but it wasn't that she-wolf or the pack leader. There was a third, a dark shadow that caused pain whenever I tried to penetrate the darkness of my memories. And one phrase kept echoing in my head: _I'm sorry._

"You ok?" Jacob's voice was low and close to my ear as if he knew something was wrong. Something more than just that nightmare.

I nodded against his chest. "Yeah. Just every time I try to remember, I get a massive headache."

He squeezed me to him. "Well, stop for now. We'll get with Caden and see if we can piece things together. Finish your hot chocolate, then we'll go get you some breakfast."

I patted his rumbling stomach. "You have to eat, too. But hey, on a brighter note, can we start packing?"

A chuckle rumbled up from his chest. "You wanna take all this with us? Don't you think we'll need a room in case we need to crash here?"

I shrugged. "Actually, I figured they might turn it into a nursery. I mean, the crib is already in here. Plus, Shelby and Seth will be moving into the other cabin. That'll free up that room, too. Visiting babies need a place to sleep other than couches and arms."

He shrugged. "You have a point. We'll go into town later and get some boxes. How does that sound?"

"Perfect. And we can go visit grandpa. We haven't seen him in a while. Or Sue."

He reached for his cell phone. "Maybe we can rope Seth and Shelbs into going. I'm sure Sue will want to hear the happy news and see Shelby."

While we waited for a response, he rubbed his hand up and down my arm. The quiet was filled with unvoiced thoughts. I knew he was worried, and I was lost in my memories of that horrible night that we lost one of our own. And Caden and I almost died. Would have had it not been for Jacob. We owed him our lives.

That truth hit me hard enough that my chest actually hurt. That _was_ my answer, wasn't it? Dad was right. Jacob had proven he'd loved me beyond the imprint months ago. He'd pulled me out of that burning cabin.

Looking over, I saw he was checking his phone again. He was absolutely beautiful with his russet skin and dark eyes. And the power he exuded now was worthy of a king of the woods. The power matched his big body. A body that was made for aggression, fighting, and love-making. I leaned over, took the phone out of his hands, threw it and the mug on the bedside table, and swung myself into his lap.

"Nessie, what-,"

Straddling his hips like I'd done last night, I wrapped my hands around his neck and crushed my lips to his. He wrapped his arms around me to pull me up against his body as he let me kiss him, my mouth dominating his. I tried to put all my love and gratitude into my lips, teeth, and tongue as I worshiped his mouth the way I should have months ago for what he'd done for me. When I eventually pulled back, we were both breathing hard and our eyes were a little unfocused.

His hands squeezed my waist. "What was that for? I'll be sure to do it again."

"Thank you," I whispered.

His face turned serious and one of his hands came up to stroke my hair out of my face. "For what, sweetie?"

"For saving my life. Back in that cabin. You pulled me out because you loved me."

He nodded as if he understood where my thoughts had gone. "I did and I do. You're my future. And like Morgan said, you're my sanity. If you left me, I would have nothing to keep me tethered to this world."

"Never." I couldn't seem to get my voice above a whisper. "I will never leave you, again, Jacob. Ever." I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and hugged him tight. I held him so tight that I began to shake with the effort. "Thank you so very much for staying with me, for being patient, for saving my life."

His big arms enveloped me and held me so tight that I could barely breathe. But that was ok, because it let me know that I was still alive, that I had been given yet another shot at fixing my own life, myself. And the smoky, woodsy smell of him comforted me even more. Jacob was my rock, my foundation. Likewise, I would be nothing without him.

"I'll always pick you back up, Nessie. Every damn time you fall, I'll pick you back up and hold you until you can get your strength back. I'll be whatever you need me to be."

Hours, days, or weeks could have passed around us for all the attention we were paying. We stayed like that for a while, just holding each other, before our bodies started getting with the program of necessity. Both of our stomachs growled out at the same time.

We chuckled and pulled apart. Jacob's hand went back to stroking my hair. "Let's get you fed, ok? I don't like how pale you are."

I smiled. "And I don't like how it sounds as if your stomach is about to eat itself."

We managed to untangle ourselves from each other and the bed to go put on some real clothes. I couldn't really bear to be away from him so I slipped into one of his old hoodies as my shirt for the day. His scent was still on it because I'd started making him roll around on all his old stuff that I wore so that I'd be able to smell him and calm myself down. Hell, he'd even started rolling around on my clothes. Pulling the collar up around my nose, I breathed deep. Yeah, calm was definitely what I felt…as well as passion.

I smiled as his hands snaked around my waist under the hoodie. And then I felt his lips at my hair. "Mmm, I love you in my clothes."

I hugged his arms to me. "I thought you wanted me naked all the time?"

That was answered with a growl that vibrated into my back. "Only if we're alone." He kissed my hair again. "So that means, once we're moved into the cabin, you get to unpack wearing nothing but skin."

"And what if I get cold?"

"Mmm, then I'll warm you back up."

I turned around in his arms and wrapped mine around his neck. "You know we'd never get anything done if that's the plan."

"And your point would be…?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

That made me laugh and roll my eyes. "We'll talk about it."

He shook his head. "Not if I make it an order."

"I'm not a wolf," I felt the need to point out.

"Doesn't matter. You like it when I order you around. You like it when I get all aggressive male on you."

Just thinking of the look in his eyes when he expected me to obey him made my body heat up. I loved the dominance of him, the way he wanted to claim me. He was starting to embrace the wolf's instincts more and more, and that animal, raw side of him made me want to submit to him. Not to mention that he was the Alpha. He was nothing but power and brute strength, everything that a male was supposed to be for his female.

"You like that, don't you? You like the thought of me putting you where I want you, dominating you," he growled into my ear.

One look inside my head and I knew I hadn't put up my mental block. I was projecting onto him, showing him what I wanted him to do with me if I disobeyed, how I wanted at least one of our love-making sessions to become a game…one that led to him taking me hard, giving me all the strength of his body as we let the wildness take control of us. Because, make no mistake, I knew he was holding back still. He didn't want to hurt me. I could feel the control of his hips even when he was on the edge. And I wanted more than anything for him to let that control slip for even a second just to get a taste of it.

He growled a little and swiveled his hips. "We'll talk about it," he said copying me.

"Not if I make it an order," I said with a grin. "I'm the only one you'll ever submit for, and you want to as badly as I do."

"I hate that you know me so well."

"No you don't. You like it that I'm the only one who can't read minds that knows you. We're soul mates, Jacob. I recognize the hunger in you."

His stomach chose that moment to remind us that we were both hungry. "Speaking of hunger," he said with his lips pressed to mine.

We laughed as he walked us backward toward the bedroom door, our lips still hooked together.

"Oh, come on, guys," Shelby's voice said with a smile. "We have things to do today that doesn't include being tangled up on the bed or floor."

I turned around to face her. "The floor? Is that where you guys end up when the banging on the wall stops?"

The blush that raced up her neck and across her face was the color of a fire truck.

Jacob laughed. "I think that's our answer."

Shelby turned and stomped out the door. "Seth! I'm going to kill your Alpha!" she yelled.

"What did I do?" Jacob asked.

I shrugged. "She's too attached to me, so you're the best candidate for revenge-murder."

"Great," he grumbled. "Being mated to you is proving hazardous to my health."

"Mated to me?" The grin on my face was just happy-go-lucky.

He shrugged. "Well, we're a mated couple now, Nessie. I'm mated to you whether or not we get married. It's a wolf thing."

"And you're embracing your wolf."

"It's about time I did. I still have control and human traditions ingrained in my brain, but the wolf's instincts have yet to lead me astray. All my fuck-ups were because I ignored those instincts and went with my human ramblings."

We grinned at each other. "Your wolf gave us to each other."

"Yeah, I guess so. I guess I should thank Billy for the great genes."

I laughed. "Absolutely. We need to see him, too, you know."

He nodded. "Yeah, and you need to go visit the rez. They asked about you when I made my rounds with Morgan."

"Really?"

"Yup. They like you. Oh, and did I tell you that Morgan imprinted?"

My eyes went wide. "Nuh-uh."

"Mhm"

"Shut up! Who?"

"Lucas."

My jaw hit the floor. "Oh, she must be loving that."

We started walking down the hallway and stairs. The smell of waffles, bacon, and eggs wafted up to us, making us walk faster.

He snorted as we hit the downstairs landing. "Oh, yeah. She looked scared to death when she stared at him. But he's good for her. Her reflex is to push him away, but he'll ignore it and stay with her."

"Wait, he knows about it?"

Jacob nodded. "Yeah, it was weird. He was as taken with her as she was with him. So we told him about the imprint. He'll be phasing soon anyway. Might as well get it over with."

When we got into the kitchen, Seth and Shelby were already there, digging in. Jacob and I sat across from them and started piling our plates up. Glasses of sweet tea were set in front of us. My glass was regular sized, but Jacob's was a giant cylinder as was Seth's.

"How do you know he'll be phasing?" I asked as I piled eggs onto his plate.

Before Esme could beat him to it, Jacob got up to get the ketchup from the fridge.

"Who's going to be phasing?" Seth asked around a mouthful of waffle.

"Lucas," Jacob said. "And I know because back in May, he was still a normal-sized teenager. But in the past couple months, he's gotten huge. Nearly as big as me. And that was the same kind of growth spurt I had."

"Isn't that the truth," Momma's voice said from the doorway. She smiled at me. "It seemed like one day Jacob was a scrawny beanpole and the next?" She shook her head. "He was towering over me with muscles I knew that a gym couldn't give him overnight."

"Definitely. I felt like I could actually feel my bones lengthening and my muscles bulking up. I ate a shitload of meat." Jacob glanced at Esme. "Sorry for the language."

She smiled at him warmly. "After ten years of hearing it, I know when it's coming. Don't worry; I'm quite used to it."

He grinned at her. "You're the best, Esme."

She came over to pat him on the shoulder. "A mother or grandmother should always be accepting of her family no matter how they come. Language is just words, and I know you mean no offense. A bunch of rowdy males like you? I would expect nothing less, and it makes me love you all the more."

Shelby let out a sigh and we all turned to watch her place her hand over her stomach and smile. But when she finally focused on us, she scowled.

"Oh, shut up. It's the damn hormones."

We all laughed, and eventually she joined in.

**SethPOV**

Laughing with all the others, I couldn't keep my eyes off Shelby. Even though she grumbled and was still worried about being pregnant, she glowed. When we'd gotten to our room last night, her hand had barely left her stomach and the smile hadn't left her face at all, even after I scooted down on the bed to press my ear to her stomach. The baby's heartbeat was strong and fast. And that rhythm had put me out fast.

Today, Carlisle wanted to do an ultrasound just to make sure. I wasn't sure if she should be eating before, but he didn't seem to mind as he stood in the corner watching his mate and family have a Hallmark moment.

"Why are you staring at me?" Shelby asked, pulling me out of my head.

I smiled. "You're beautiful. How could I not?"

She rolled her eyes but smiled with pleasure. "Think you can handle this emotional Shelby for another however many months?"

Taking her hand in mine, I brought it up to kiss her knuckles. "Shelby, I could handle you through anything for the rest of forever."

"Man, you wolf types sure are romantic when it comes to your mates. Why can't we get some love?" Emmett sauntered in the room with Rosalie not far behind.

Rosalie went straight for Nessie and pulled her into a hug. When assurances were given that her niece was ok, Rosalie took up playing with Nessie's hair. She even gave a warm smile to Jacob when he nodded at her. The vampire sure had changed her tune since Nessie had gone off on her months ago. She was nicer to all the wolves, even Leah.

"I'm sure Morgan would be happy to oblige in giving you some pack 'love', Emmett. All you gotta do is sweet-talk her a little," Jacob said with a grin.

Emmett shuddered. "I'm not scared of much, but that female is scary."

"Eh, she'll calm down now that she's imprinted. It's not you her affections are focused on now."

"Thank God for that. And may God have mercy on that guy's soul."

A moment later, the door opened and Christa walked in. "Jacob, may I speak to you for a moment?"

Her eyes were wary as they darted from him to me. Jacob glanced at me, and I nodded. Excusing himself, he kissed Nessie and went for the door. Shelby and Nessie started talking about woman stuff like pregnancy and weddings, but I was solely concentrated on Jacob's shadow through the lace-covered window in the door. I was the only one who caught his shoulders tightening, which meant nothing good had come from the patrol update. Looking over to Edward, he nodded, confirming my thoughts.

Dammit, not again. Why couldn't whatever happened months ago leave us in peace? Something was brewing, something that could cost us another or more lives. And now I had something to be even more worried over. My unborn child was now as much at risk as my mate. And that was not acceptable in any way. Now I knew how Edward and Bella had felt when the news that the pack was coming for them when Bella was pregnant with Nessie. I was terrified and yet strangely resolved that nothing was going to touch Shelby without having to put me in an early grave first. And I would fight to the death to keep her safe.

When Jacob came back in, the room went silent. The expression on his face was exhaustion. He was already tired of all the drama. Something was in our woods again, and it couldn't be a coincidence. Whoever or whatever had been here last time was back, and it was going to start causing problems if hunters found those deer torn apart. They'd run to Charlie who would then have to placate them while we worked around the clock to find whatever it was and stop it.

"What is it, Jake?" Nessie asked worriedly.

He went to her, bent down, and pressed a very firm kiss to her lips. When he leaned back, he made very direct eye contact with her. "Another deer was found ripped apart in the woods. This is actually the second one. Seth and I found the first a couple days ago."

Her breath stopped short. "You-you mean like last time?"

Jake shook his head. "Yes and no. These deer have been mutilated, much worse than months ago when we came across that clearing."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Surprisingly, there was no anger to her tone. She was just curious.

"I was going to, but we got distracted."

Nessie reached up to stroke his hands where they rested on her face. "Ok, well, what do we do?"

I'm pretty sure we all just stared at her. No anger for not telling her. She knew now and she wanted to know what the next move was. She'd truly gone and grown up on us. And we all took deep breaths.

Jacob took another deep, relieved breath. "Well, we need to tighten up the patrols again, double them up, too. If there are going to be even more vampires involved, then we might get some more wolves soon, including Lucas. And we could use them."

At the mention of vampires, Nessie's face scrunched up in pain. Her fingers went up to massage her temples, nodding while Jake talked.

"Nessie, you ok?" I asked.

She nodded. "Yeah. Like I told Jake, when I try to remember that night, I get an instant headache. But I'm ok if I back off." She motioned with her hand and then went back to massaging her temple. "Go on, keep talking. I'm ok."

Edward went to the cabinet and took down a pill bottle. He filled a glass with water and handed both to her. She said thanks while Jake and I watched to make sure she took them both.

When she did, I looked to Jake. "I'll tell the wolves that patrol around the rez to watch for potential phases. I think we'll need a pack meeting to start arranging the hand-offs for tighter shifts."

Jake nodded. "Good idea. But I still want to go on with our lives, so let's not overwork them. We don't know for sure if it's more than a mountain lion since we can't get a bead on the scent. We can make calls while we do our visiting and box-collecting."

"True. Whatever it is hasn't exactly come forward to make threats, and I think we're well protected until we can get things arranged."

Once we figured all that out, the girls took deep breaths. I wrapped my arm around Shelby's waist and brought her closer. "You ok?"

She nodded. "Yeah." Her hand went to her stomach. "I guess I'm just…"

"Yeah, I know. Me, too. But we'll be alright. I won't let anything happen to you."

"Or to you. Remember that conversation about me needing you to be ok?"

I nodded. "Of course." I kissed her temple. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

Carlisle stepped away from the wall. "Why don't we get some happy stuff going? Ultrasound, anyone?"

* * *

**So, yeah. Another nightmare. :/ And the drama begins. Kind of. Anywhozzle, as much as I would love a lemon in every chapter, there will be "blackouts" because we know how young love is that has finally crossed that line: they're always all over each other. But never fear, more will come, I promise. Please review. I love them, and you guys! xoxoxoxo**


	13. Chapter 13

***Peeks around the doorjamb and then dodges various fruit* CHAPTER 13 has arrived. I am so sorry it took me so long. First I hit a writer's block and then...work called. :( Busy, busy, busy. However, I have to say that, to date, this just might be one of my favorite chapters. However, I already foresee ch.14 being a definite favorite. C: **

***Disclaimer***

**Please Enjoy!**

* * *

** One Week Later**

**RPOV**

The box hit the hardwood floor with a dense _thud_.

"That's the last one," Jacob huffed.

I was just coming down from the top floor of the cabin that was now ours. The locks had been redone, an alarm system had been installed, and some things had been moved around. For instance, all the clothes that weren't specifically ours had been moved out of the master closet and chest of drawers to one of the extra bedroom closets. Aunt Alice had already been in here with a couple of my boxes, setting out picture frames and some of my decorative knickknacks around, no doubt trying to make that her "welcome home" tribute.

Jacob, various members of the pack, my family, and I had been moving the boxes all day. We'd helped Seth and Shelby move into the cabin across the lake from this one yesterday. And even though they'd wanted to help us today, we'd insisted that they spend the night and day after in their new home to "break it in" a little.

I looked up to Jake and smiled. We were officially moved in. There was nothing left but carpet and the bed at the big Cullen house. The same was said for Seth and Shelby's room, except for the bed. Seth had insisted it go with them. Jacob had told me that it was their mated bed, kind of like the marriage bed, and Seth was too attached to it because that's the only bed, besides the hotel room bed, that they'd slept together in. It was the bed that he'd gotten Shelby pregnant in, and it meant everything to him. Jacob had also told me that he would have done the same thing, but we already had our mated bed. The one we lost our virginity to each other in was already in the cabin. No doubt, if he could have Seth would have gone to rip up the bed out of that hotel. But I think both he and Shelby were content with the one they had. I know she'd been amused when he'd told my father how it was going to be with that bed. Even if he had to pay the Cullens back, that bed was getting moved to the cabin with them.

Dad and Carlisle had been more than happy to let them have it. Apparently they had plans for that room.

I got up from the couch and went to the box. Jacob had his hands on his hips and was looking around with a frown.

"What?" I asked.

"Where did all the other boxes go?"

I waved my hand back toward the stairs leading to our new bedroom. "Oh, I already kicked them down the stairs."

His expression turned to horror. "You didn't unpack them, did you?"

I frowned, hoping there hadn't been anything breakable in the boxes I'd packed full of clothes. Maybe he'd slipped something into them?

"Not yet. Why?"

Relief…and mischief took what I now knew was false horror off his face. "Good. I still get to see you unpack naked. Didn't miss the show of my life."

I tried not to laugh. I tried to look stern. I failed on both accounts. "Jacob Black, what am I going to do with you?"

His laugh was low and dark, utterly masculine, as he wrapped his arms around me, pulling me up against his body.

"I can think of a few things." That voice crawled down to a growl. Leaning in, he took my earlobe between his teeth and gently pulled on it.

As much as I wanted to christen the couch, I pushed him back with a throaty laugh. "If we don't unpack now, we won't get to it because we'll be too…caught up in other things."

He growled again. "Mmm, I don't know about that. Watching you naked while unpacking seems like something I wouldn't mind watching you do…even if you have to repack everything when you're done."

"You two are disgusting."

Jacob turned with me still in his arms so we could see Shelby standing in the doorway with her arms crossed over her stomach. Carlisle had estimated that Shelby was two months pregnant. And now that I knew what I was looking at, I could see the subtle swelling of her body. Her breasts were bigger and her face was starting to round out from fulfilling her cravings. But her skin had started to glow with happiness. Seth had come to see us to check in on a patrol and when asked, he'd told us that she seemed to have fully accepted what was coming for them and the joy. She'd embraced the utter elation of the fact that she and the man she loved had created a life and were waiting for it to grow and join them, creating their family.

"What are you doing here, Shelby? Shouldn't you and Seth be breaking in the kitchen counter?" Jacob asked with a devilish smirk.

Her smirk was just as bad. "Already ahead of you."

Jacob grimaced. "Thanks for that new nightmare."

"You started it," she fired back. "I just thought I'd finish it."

"Well played."

"Thank you."

Jacob leaned down to kiss my temple. "I'm going to go make a sandwich. You want anything?"

"Sure."

"Roast beef and cheddar?"

I smiled up at him. "You're perfect."

We shared a kiss while I practically heard Shelby's eyes roll. "You guys are worse than the damn morning sickness."

Jacob rolled his eyes, but asked, "Do you want anything, Shelby?

"Actually, a roast beef and cheddar sounds pretty good." Her expression turned sheepish. "If you don't mind."

Jacob shook his head. "Not at all." He gave me a quick kiss and moved for the kitchen, but after a couple strides, he turned back. "You know I love you like a sister, Shelbs. I only give you a hard time because I like our witty repartee.

She practically beamed. "Oh, I know that. I love you, too, Jake."

They smiled at each other and then he went in search of food. It felt good to have my family together. It felt good to have everything right. But under the surface, tension boiled. Something was still in the woods eviscerating the deer. Luckily, no hunters had found them yet because the pack got to them so fast after it happened that they could cover it up. But that wasn't going to last. There would come a time when we wouldn't get there in time. And the scents still made no sense. Jacob had had Caden and I go to one of the sites to see if we could recall the scent. Both of us came down with migraines. The same had happened when we'd gone for our trips down memory lane. The pain had been so bad that we'd both passed out, and it had almost happened again at the site of the killing. Jacob told Carlisle no more trying to dig up those memories. He hadn't liked having to catch me as my brain when on the fritz.

I tried not to think about our pack, and Jacob, running through the woods blind. It scared the shit out of me. And I knew it terrified Shelby. Even though she knew that we would be there for her, losing Seth would pretty much make her a zombie. She'd only do the necessities to keep the baby alive, but not much else. If something happened to Jacob, I had no baby to keep me around, but I knew I wouldn't kill myself. But the best half of me would be missing, and I'd probably never get out of bed, if only to use the bathroom's facilities. And maybe to eat.

Forcing all those nasty thoughts to the storage closet in my head, I smiled at Shelby. "So what are you doing here?"

Still smiling, she leaned over to the side and picked up a box that was taped shut seven ways from Sunday. She handed it to me with a sly little grin.

"I managed to sneak into your room and pack this up for you since I thought you and Jake might do the packing together."

Confused, I took it from her. "What is it?"

"Oh, nothing much. Just a dash of red for your marriage closet."

Cryptic, but I knew what she meant. It was the red lingerie that we'd bought last year. I knew I'd been missing something when I'd gone through the closet, but I hadn't been able to put my finger on it. Now, I knew what it was.

"Oh my God. Thank you, Shelby. I'd completely forgotten about it." I hugged the slender box to my chest.

"No problem. I thought you might have. So you're still going to wait for that special night to wear it?"

"Absolutely. It's what I bought it for." I lowered my voice. "Not to mention, by the time of the wedding he might calm down on ripping my underwear off me."

Instead of a grimace and snarky comeback, she laughed. "Yeah, I don't think that's going to happen. If he's up front now about ripping off your underwear, I can only imagine that it's going to get worse and go to your clothes next."

I nodded. "It already happened with a sleep shirt."

"See? It begins." Her face became serious. "But really, are you ok? I mean, it hasn't gotten too rough? I know he's a dominant. Hell, he's the alpha male."

As I thought about "rough" I wondered if Shelby's definition matched mine. "Well, I mean, it's gotten intense and I'm always a little sore after, but," I blushed. "I like it. I like it rough, Shelby. To be honest, it's hot as hell that he wants me that bad. Of course, it freaks him out if I cramp up or I walk funny. But really, a hot shower always takes care of me."

Nodding, she smiled. "That's great, Ness. You two complement each other. It's about time you guys just go with the flow and talk things out. Don't just assume stuff." A wicked glint came in her eyes as she leaned forward and lowered her voice. "So, how big is he?"

"Shelby!" I hissed after a moment of shock.

She chuckled. "Come on, Ness. I just wanna know if he matches his body."

Looking over my shoulder to make sure he was still in the kitchen messing with the food, I turned back to her and nodded. "Oh, yeah. He matches…perfectly."

A grin widened her lips. "I figured he might. A man like that? Definitely. And Seth isn't lacking in that department either. That's why I asked."

Together we giggled silently…or tried to.

"What's so funny?" Jacob asked from the kitchen around a mouthful of sandwich. He was staring at us like we'd lost our minds.

"Girl stuff," Shelby replied between giggles.

Jacob raised an eyebrow, his eyes shifting from me to her. Eventually he shook his head, shrugged, and walked toward the table. Looking back at Shelby, I found that she'd raised her hand to make a circle with her middle finger and thumb. There was a little space between the two. She was telling me how wide Seth was. But I knew I trumped her. I raised my own hand and left a wider gap between my fingers. There was definitely a smug, proud look on my face.

Her eyes widened and she swallowed hard as her eyes roamed my body. Those eyes flicked over my shoulder, then she leaned in. "How does he fit?" she practically mouthed with a breath.

Bringing up three of my fingers, I made sure to space them out so she could see the movement. "Stretches me," I mouthed back.

Her eyebrows met her hairline when she nodded. "I bet." This time it was a whisper.

"Hey, if you guys aren't going to come eat, I'll eat them for you," Jacob said from the kitchen.

Shelby and I both rolled our eyes.

"We're coming," I said.

"Yeah, don't get Nessie's panties in a twist," Shelby said as she followed me to the kitchen. I threw the heavily taped box on the couch as I passed it.

Jacob gave us a wolfish, all-male grin. Yeah, like that was a denial. Which made me think…after we'd cleaned up, I never did find those torn panties. Pegging Jacob with a stare, his eyes and grin told me everything I needed to know. The man had kept them as souvenirs. I rolled my eyes. Why on earth would he need to keep them? He took me every night. And where the hell was he keeping them?

Not two seconds after we sat down, there was a knock on the door.

"Come on in," Jacob called.

A moment later, Seth joined us in the kitchen. "Hey, guys." He bent down to kiss Shelby. "You ok?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Sorry. They asked if I wanted anything to eat, and I was starving."

He sat down. "It's ok. I figured you might have come over here."

"So," I said after I swallowed a bite. "What brings you guys out and about?"

They shared an uneasy look.

"We need to go see my dad. He needs to know that I'm pregnant."

Seth snaked an arm around his mate and kissed her hair. "And I don't like it, but I'll support the decision."

I shared a look with Jake. Seth had already spoken to him about not going, that he was taking Caden and Morgan as back up. But they hadn't asked that I not go, and Shelby would probably need female support on her side because Seth was going to be all aggressive male.

"Would you like me to go with you?" I asked.

Shelby wanted to say yes. It was there in her eyes. Instead, she shook her head. "You guys just moved in. I can't ask you to go with me on that kind of errand when this needs to be a happy day."

Another look passed between me and Jake. He cleared his throat. "Nessie will go with you." When Shelby started to protest, he held a hand up. "No arguments. You're family and we take care of our own above ourselves. You know that. Plus, we'll have all night together. A couple hours apart won't kill us."

Shelby's eyes watered. "Thank you," she whispered.

Another knock came from the door and she swiped at her eyes.

"What is with everyone needing in this cabin today?" Jacob grumbled.

"Seth? Shelby? You guys in there?"

It was Morgan. And no doubt she had Caden with her.

"Yeah," Seth called out. He then looked to Jacob who nodded. "Come in."

Morgan and Caden came in and joined us in the kitchen. Morgan was tall and slender, but strong. With her long, curly hair, pale brown eyes, and tanned skin, she looked exotic as hell. Dangerous, too. Caden was likewise tall and lean with his mop of dirty blond hair and amber eyes. Out of the two of them, Caden was the most lethal. Morgan was tough, but she had a warm heart. Half of Caden was frozen solid with the need to avenge his family. Shelby had told me the story. Afterward, everything about him had made sense. All of the advice about not letting your soul mate go for a moment. But Alora hadn't been his soul mate, had she? Fate had cruelly maneuvered all those pieces so that Caden ended up here to be Leah's imprint. And that made me realize how kind fate had been to me…so far. Two innocent children had died to get Caden here, one of them not even born yet. I'd gotten my soul mate about five minutes after I was born.

Just looking at Caden made me want to do something for him, get up and hug him and say thank you, but that would never be enough. He'd done so much for us. I had no idea what I could do for him that would relate enough gratitude.

"Hey,guys," Morgan said as she sat down at the table.

Caden just stood at the end of the table with his arms crossed over his chest. He'd started working out with Derek on a regular basis and had started to gain even more muscle.

"Are we going to head off soon?"

Shelby nodded. "Yeah, I just want to finish my sandwich first."

"Take your time," Caden said. "We have all day. Neither one of us is due for patrol today."

Jacob leaned forward, placing his elbows onto the table. "So, Morgan, how's Lucas?" What saved his life was that the question was an honest one.

She shrugged. "He seems ok most of the time, but that tell-tale anger is there beneath the surface. He snapped at me the other day. And his dad is worried but I explained to him how it would be until he phased. Also to have his room ready for when he phased back because of the pain."

Both Jacob and Seth nodded.

"And call me if you're around when phases."

"What if I have to phase to help control him?"

Seth and his alpha shared a look.

Jacob shrugged. "Then howl. We know your voice."

She nodded. "Will do."

I clapped my hands together. "Alright. Let me go change out the 'moving clothes', and then we can go."

And so I gave Jacob a kiss and went to change for a fun-filled afternoon.

**ShelbyPOV**

Nervous didn't even begin to cover the feeling this trip gave me. And thoughts aplenty chased themselves through my head. Had he changed since Edward and Bella forcefully took me from him? Was the house the same? Were there alcohol bottles everywhere? Had he trashed my room and all my belongings?

Well, as the saying went, only one way to find out. The five of us all piled into one of the Cullens' cars, with Nessie driving. I was too shaky to drive, and Seth was too busy being worried about me. Morgan and Caden didn't know the way. That left my very steady best friend.

The whole drive over, Seth stayed wrapped around me, one hand playing over my stomach, the other over my hair. When we finally pulled up next to the house, I nearly had a stroke. The lawn was cut pristinely. The bushes were trimmed evenly. And the small garden of flowers that could grow here was blooming beautifully before winter set it. Last but not least, the house had been repainted white where it had aged to gray before. The shutters were solid black instead of faded and washed out. And it looked like the broken boards of the porch had been fixed.

Images of my childhood flashed before me along with the gradual decline of the house. When Mom had been around, Dad had worked hard to keep everything in order. I remembered that she'd always smile and make him lunch when he was done with the yard work. But that was many, many years ago.

And then another question hit me: was he even still here? Had someone bought this house and restored it after he took off?

"Shelby?"

I looked up to find that Nessie and I were the only two in the car. She must have asked the others to give us a minute.

"Yeah?"

"Are you sure that you're ok to do this?" Her eyes were steady on mine, no flinching. And that's what pulled me together. She was my rock today. Normally it was Seth, but today he was just a big body of anger.

Swallowing hard and tightening my resolve, I nodded. "Yeah, Let's get this over with."

Seth opened my door and Nessie met me on the sidewalk. Morgan and Caden walked up behind us like the looming guards they were. For the first time since I could remember the steps on the porch didn't squeak. Seth reached forward and pounded his fist on the solid wood of the door. For a moment, I couldn't breathe as we all stood there, waiting. Somebody else was going to open that door and tell me he'd left…or worse. I knew it.

With a slide and a click, the door was unlocked and the knob was turned. Yep, I was going to hurl. My stomach twisted hard as the door seemed to take years to swing open.

And then, there he was. My father. I gripped Seth's hand hard in mine. The man was still huge. Broad, heavy shoulders. Thick arms. Barrel-chested. Only, his beer gut was gone as was the blood-shot of his eyes. For once, those eyes focused clearly on me, and they burned with regret as he took me in. Also, the stench of alcohol was completely gone.

"Shelby?" he said like he couldn't believe he was actually seeing me.

"Hi, Dad."

He blinked a couple times and then took in the people around me. "Nessie," he said in acknowledgement.

She nodded solemnly. "Mr. Marks."

"What are you all doing here?"

He seemed sane and nowhere near violent. "Seth and I need to talk to you. May we come in?"

He moved back. "Oh, sure, sure. I'm sorry about the mess. I've been revamping the house."

Seth went ahead of me into the house, and as I passed my father, I asked, "Are you leaving or something?"

"Not at all." He rushed forward to take some plastic sheeting off the furniture. There were paint cans and brushes and rollers everywhere. Drop cloths covered the hardwood floors and the furniture was pushed back here and there away from the walls. "I just felt like a change in scenery was in order."

"Really? What brought that on?" I asked. I couldn't help sounding snarky and cold. But then, maybe he had a new woman in his life.

"My daughter leaving me without a backward glance." When I turned to look at him, his eyes went to the floor. "Your mother left us. She left you with me, and I did nothing but hate you for how you reminded me of her. Which wasn't your fault at all, and very unfair to you. I deserved the Cullens coming to get you. And you deserved to get out of here and find your happiness." With that, he looked up at Seth and nodded.

Seth glanced at me. I shrugged.

I swallowed hard. He'd done this for me. Anger shot through me and stabbed me in the heart. "But why didn't you try to get into contact with me? You knew all along where I've been."

He ran a hand through his thick black hair that was starting to gray at the temples. "I had to fix myself first, Shelby. There was no way to try to reconnect with you when I'd lost myself." He looked around the room. "And fixing this house up? It's helping me. It helps me to forget and leave the past where it should be. Your mother's not coming back, and looking at everything the way it had been when she left just isn't healthy. It's time to make this house a home. I've been seeing a therapist and going to AA meetings in Port Angeles." Those eyes met mine. "I wanted to be completely clean and cleansed when I eventually sought you out. And I never thought you'd come here to me first."

AA meetings. He'd stopped drinking. Supposedly. All of this was too much to hope for, so I turned on my heel and went for the kitchen. Yanking open the refrigerator door, I found it to be spotless with fresh fruit and vegetables, some thawing hamburger, sauces, jellies, and jams, but absolutely no alcohol. Not one can or bottle. I opened the freezer to find some fish and chicken, some frozen veggies and pizzas. A tub of chocolate ice-cream. Next, I went to the pantry. Breads, noodles, canned soups. Not even a bottle of cooking sherry.

When I turned around, he was leaning against one of the door jambs. I could see Seth hovering behind him just in case.

"I totally quit, Shelby. Not even a glass of wine when I go out to eat. Water or coke for me."

"All this for me?" I whispered.

He nodded. "And me. I need to move on. I want a good woman in my life. And I want you back. Granted, I know you won't come back to live with me and I'm ok with that. You have your life together, or so it seems. And, hopefully, a good man," he said with a glance behind him.

"He is, Dad. Seth's a good man, and he takes good care of me."

He nodded as Seth moved around him to come stand next to me. I could see Nessie standing to the side, letting Morgan and Caden stand just behind my dad. This would be the perfect moment to tell him.

"Which is why we came here to talk to you." Seth and I both reached for my stomach at the same time. Dad saw the movement and his eyes flashed to us. I nodded. "We're pregnant. Just at two months."

Emotions flitted across his face. He swallowed hard. "When did you find out?"

"About a week ago. I needed some time to come to terms with it. And Seth and I moved out of the Cullen house."

Dad looked at Seth. "Tell me you'll take care of my little girl. Tell me you won't leave her."

Seth looked like he was going to give an angry comeback, but one glance at me and his face softened.

He nodded. "I won't ever leave her, or the baby. This is my mate and my unborn child. And she'd never leave us."

Dad took in a deep breath. "Yeah, I know. She's not her mother. And never has been."

The moment he said that, my world shifted. Everybody had been telling me that I wasn't my mother, but somehow, those words didn't touch me the way they did when my father had just uttered them. It meant the world to me that he didn't think I was her. I knew for eight years, he'd treated me as if I were her ghost, yelling at me like he would have her if she'd been there. Now, with his clear eyes, he could see that I loved him, that I would never truly leave him alone. That I was part of him, whereas my mother had been her own person.

Tears flooded my eyes and I bit my lip to try to keep them in, but it didn't work. As soon as he held his arms out a little, an invitation for a hug, I let out a sob and ran into his embrace.

"I love you, Shelby," he whispered. "And I am so sorry." His arms tightened around me, holding me to him.

"I love you, too, Daddy. I want my baby to know its grandfather."

"I'd like that, too. I can't wait to build up our relationship again. That is, if you want to."

I hugged him tighter. "Of course. I need you."

"And I need you." After a while, he held me back by my shoulders and studied my face. "You seem different, Shelby. And you're smell has changed."

"She smells wilder," Caden said.

Dad nodded. "Why is that?"

I looked over at Caden and Seth. "Can I tell him?"

The boys shared a look. Caden shrugged. "We have no rules. But are you sure he can handle it?"

Thinking back to when I was kid, he'd always been into the weird, paranormal shows. We rarely watched the news or action movies. It was always about the supernatural: werewolves, in particular. I'd become the thing that he had always had a fascination with.

I smiled. "You remember when I was little and we used to watch those supernatural shows?"

He chuckled. "Yeah. Your momma always did yell at me for me letting you watch those werewolves. She hated those the most."

"Well, that's a bit ironic," Morgan piped up.

I turned to find her smirking, her eyes laughing up a storm. I grinned back.

"Why?" Dad asked.

I shared a look with Nessie. She nodded encouragingly.

"It's ironic because back in November, there was a big commotion. In the supernatural world. Seth, Caden, Morgan, and Nessie are not normal. And you know that. You asked me about Nessie when you first met her, remember?" When he nodded, I continued. "I can't go into her weirdness, but the others? And myself? We're what mom always yelled at you for."

"What?" His eyes darted from me to the people standing behind me.

They were all holding their breaths as if waiting for his reaction. I knew that because I was, too.

Slowly, he shook his head. "Honey, werewolves don't exist."

"Yes, we do," Morgan said with a seriousness that doctors used when delivering bad news. "Seth and I are different than Caden and Shelby, but we do exist."

Dad looked over to her, studied her, and then came back to study me. He swallowed hard. "I don't believe you."

Morgan let out a grunt. "Fine. Let's all troop to the backyard, shall we?"

"Morgan, I don't think that's a good idea," Seth said.

She shook her head. "He needs to see it to believe it, so I'm gonna give him a show." She walked up to me and Dad, took his arm, and started dragging him to the back door. Seth grabbed me before I could be dragged, too. "Let's go, daddy-o."

And so we all trooped outside. Nessie took my other hand in hers and gave it a squeeze. I squeezed back. Morgan was right. My father had always needed to see something to believe it.

When the door closed behind us, Morgan stopped Dad at porch steps and then kept walking out toward the tree line.

"Where is she going?" he asked.

"She's not fond of men, and her wolf side turns it into hatred, especially after how you treated your own daughter," Caden explained in his heavily accented voice.

Dad looked back at me and that regret still burned there in his eyes as they traced my face.

"Mr.-Shelby's-dad! Eyes forward, please," Morgan called.

When he faced forward again, Morgan closed her eyes and held her arms out from her sides. For a moment, the air around her wavered. And then, her eyes popped open as a vicious growl left her mouth. A moment later, she gracefully threw herself forward and phased into a giant pale brown wolf, leaving what was left of her clothes to flutter to the ground. The color of the fur matched her eyes, which in the wolf's form, were outlined in black, making them stand out more.

Dad jerked back. "Jesus…_Christ_," he breathed.

Slowly, Morgan crossed the yard, head down and ears flat to her head. When Dad didn't make any more moves, she sat down on her haunches in front of the bottom step of the porch. Her eyes held a dare for him not to believe what he'd just seen.

"How is this possible?" he demanded still staring at Morgan.

"Morgan and I are part of the legends of the Quileute people," Seth explained. "Long ago, our ancestors had a gene that would trigger if…enemies were near and cause them to turn into giant wolves to protect our territory and people. When our 'enemies' returned to Forks, the gene was triggered again."

"That's where my family comes in," Nessie said. "We can't go into my story, but my family moved back to Forks years before I was born. It's not the Cullens specifically that are the enemy, just what they are, though the pack and my family get along now. Now, we're all one big family. Their pack leader is my mate, my fiancé."

I was proud of her. She was standing there, back straight, stare clear and sure. Dad's eyes moved to her and studied her, moved to me, then back to her.

"You're not human, are you?"

Slowly, she shook her head. "I'm half human. But that's all I can tell you."

He looked at me. "What did she mean that you and Caden were different from her and Seth?"

Caden stepped forward. "Apparently, there are two different types of werewolf. One that's the classic get-bitten-and-infected-with-disease, and then the genetic one. Seth and Morgan are the latter. Shelby and I share the former. I would offer to shift for you, but I doubt you'd want to see it. It's a right bit more painful than the phase Morgan just showcased. And it takes longer."

Dad just stared at him for a minute, processing everything. Then he looked to me. "You go through that?"

I shook my head. "Well, no. And we think it's because I'm pregnant. Back in November, I was attacked. But I think I was pregnant, then, too. I lost it in the attack, and we think the miscarriage is what kept me from shifting since then. Now that I'm pregnant again, we're hoping I won't shift until after the baby's born."

Scrubbing his face, he turned away from us and stared up at the cloudy sky that had started to send down a drizzle. After a few heartbeats of all of us stealing glances at each other and Morgan pawing the ground and growling, he turned back around to peg Seth a hard look. It was clear he was trying for it not to be a glare.

"Did you have to drag her into all this?"

"Dad, please, don't."

Seth stepped forward, taking a deep breath. No doubt it was to try to keep himself calm. "Sir, with all due respect, she chose to stay with me. I didn't have a choice in falling in love with her, but she has always had a choice."

Those eyes narrowed. "What do you mean you didn't have a choice?"

Nessie came to the rescue by putting her hand on Seth's arm and stepping forward. Dad had always liked Ness, and she knew it.

"Mr. Marks, what Seth is referring to is called imprinting. It's a way that the wolves can know for sure that they found their soul mates without having to go through the whole dating thing. Once they meet the eyes of their soul mate, it's like that person is the one holding them to the planet, not gravity. The wolf becomes anything that their mate needs them to be, and it would be hard for that mate not to fall for that wolf. But the imprint always has a choice. And I would know because I, like Shelby, am an imprint. My mate's instinct is to protect me and be anything I need him to be. And his first goal, like Seth's for Shelby, is to keep me safe."

"Then how did she get attacked?"

That was my cue. "That was my fault. I left the safety of the Cullen house while Seth was out. I did have a guard, but he-he was…killed protecting me. Seth would have never let me leave the house. Not to mention it was him I was going to find. Instead of calling him, I'd stupidly gone outside when I knew there was a threat."

More deep breaths. Morgan started pacing the yard in front of the porch.

"Dad, Seth is a good man. And I love him, deeply. If he ever asks me to marry him, I won't hesitate."

"But you'll have a baby with him first?"

I smiled. "Yeah. Sure, we didn't plan this. But we both know that he'll never ever be with another woman, even if I did leave him. And no man would ever compare to him for me." I took a step toward him to place a hand on his arm. "Dad, despite having been infected, I love my life. The child of the man I am madly in love with is growing inside of me. I have people that I can depend on. And now, you're healing yourself, which means that you'll be around to hold your grandchild. Not to mention that Seth and I, in our world, are already a mated couple. Weddings and marriages are for humans. Seth hasn't been fully human in a decade. And I'm already used to being what I am."

After some serious eye contact, he pulled me in against his body. We held each other tight for a few moments before I felt him move. I turned my head so that I could see that he was holding his hand out to Seth. After a moment, my mate came forward and clasped my dad's hand.

"I promise that I'll take care of her."

"See that you do, son. See that you do."

**JPOV**

Hmmm, what to do? If I knew how to cook, I'd have gotten something ready for tonight. I'd sent out a pack and Cullen-wide text saying to stay away from the cabin tonight. Everybody knew what that meant, but I really didn't care. I wanted some alone time with my mate before I started up taking shifts on patrol again. Just the thought of having Nessie locked up with me in here for a few days was enough to get me edgy and sexed-up.

They'd been gone for over an hour. Nessie should be back soon. So, to keep myself busy, I went out the back sliding glass door to go down to the space under the porch to get some firewood. And that made me think of a plan. Involving spaghetti and a pallet of blankets in front of the fire.

Spaghetti I could cook. And I knew we had hamburger and noodles and sauce. Hmmm, and I knew I saw a can of whipped cream in there. Things could turn interesting tonight.

After I got the fireplace going in the master bedroom, I went to get more wood for the fireplace in the living room. Once that was ready, I went in search of some thick, warm blankets. I had a major _aha_ moment when I opened the upstairs hall closet. It was stuffed with tons vacuum-seal bags. I kicked all of them down the stairs.

Opening them up, tons of fluffy stuff foamed out of the bags when I unzipped them. Perfect. Nothing short of a mattress of blankets on the floor was good enough of her. Laying all of the blankets and mattress covers out in front of the couch made me come face to face with a box that was so taped up I doubted a forensics team could get into it.

I hadn't noticed it at all. It had to have been what Shelby had come by to give Nessie because it hadn't been there when I'd brought in the last box from moving up here. Frowning, I picked the thing up and shook it. There was paper in there, and something moved, but I didn't know what it was. I wanted to open it, but it was Nessie's box, not mine. So, I threw it back on the couch and went for one of the drawers in the kitchen. There were dozens of black, red, and white candles in it. I took pretty much all of them out and set them around the house. All of them were fresh, so I went ahead and lit them. She should be back soon.

I turned on the eyes on the stove to let them heat up as I got out all the ingredients. The meat, jar of sauce, noodles, and bread were all set out on the counter. Then, I set out the strainer, one slightly larger than normal bowl, two forks, two glasses, and some parmesan cheese.

Eventually, I got it all going and was feeling pretty good about my meager cooking ability. About thirty minutes later, after I'd finished with the meat and noodles and set them on the cool eyes, the oven dinged to let me know that it was preheated and I threw the bread into the oven for a good six minutes.

While that was cooking, I went back to the couch and picked up the box. What the hell was in it that it needed that much tape? Clearly, it was some secret between the girls, but that didn't stop me from being curious. However, Nessie was a freak over details and she'd know if I opened it and tried to re-tape it. Damn, though. I wanted so bad to know what was in it.

Daydreaming about what was in it, my eyes stared unfocused into the fire while my nail picked at a loose piece of tape. There was a click from the direction of the door and I looked up in time to see Nessie lean back against the door, her eyes on my hand on the box.

"Don't you dare open that, Jacob," she said with a smirk.

I smiled back. "Why not?"

"Because I said so."

I narrowed my eyes at her and hugged the box to my chest. "You're not the boss of me."

Her eyes narrowed, too, when she stalked over to the couch with her hand held out as if she expected me to hand over the precious cargo.

"In this I am if you want to make love to me again before we get married."

My eyes went wide as my jaw dropped. Damn, she was good.

"And given the smell of food, the fire, and the blankets in front of it you want very much to make love to me tonight. So I suggest you hand me that box. It's not for your eyes…yet." And then she patted her hoodie's pocket which was bulging slightly. "Although, I do have something for you tonight. If you want it."

To show her that she was more important, I tossed the box behind the couch. As it hit the floor with a crack, I held my hand out to her. She grinned, placed her palm in mine, and I pulled her to me so that she had to straddle my legs. Putting her knees on the couch, she scooted up so that she was sitting on my thighs.

I squeezed her hips briefly and then moved my hands under the hoodie and up her bare back until I hit her bra strap. Her hands smoothed my cheeks, ran down my neck, and then went further down my chest and abs, her fingernails digging in slightly.

"Mmm, I love you," she whispered.

"I love you, too."

"Thank you for all this. It's beautiful."

"It was my 'welcome home'."

She pressed her lips to mine and smiled. "Home. This is our home now."

I kissed her gently. "Yep, all ours. Just the two of us…for now."

Leaning back to grin at me, her eyes traced over my face.

"What?" I asked.

She shook her head slowly. "I just can't believe how perfect you are. Or how much I love you. How people fall out of love is a complete mystery to me."

I shrugged and moved my hands down so that I dug my fingers down into her back pockets to hold her to me. "It just means that they weren't meant to be together that way. Maybe just as friends, but since it didn't work out as lovers, they couldn't bear to be friends after that. As for me being perfect? Not even close, but I try my damnedest to be what you need me to be. And for you loving me? I can hardly believe it myself, but I'm so fucking happy that you do. I'd be lost without you."

Her hands came up to stroke my face again. "And I would be lost without you. I wouldn't even be alive without you. I owe everything I have to you."

Pushing myself up so that I wasn't slouching, I stroked the hair out of her face, and she leaned into my palm, closing her eyes as if it was the touch of heaven.

"You owe me nothing. Because we're even. If you hadn't come along and been my imprint, I would probably have been shot down by a hunter in Canada years ago, taking my anger and self-hatred to my grave. You saved me. I saved you. We're even, and now, all I want is you. It's a lot to ask of you, I know, but that's all I could think of to ask from you."

" That's ok, because all _I _want is you. You're all I've ever needed."

We grinned at each other and leaned in for the kiss at the same time as the buzzer for the bread went off in the kitchen.

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**Whew, that last part made me tear up a little. I love Jacob and Nessie. Anywhozzle, I love you guys. And again, I'm so sorry for taking so long. Next chapter has a lemon...or three? I don't know. Might do one for each couple? Oh and more to come on Morgan and Lucas. He's gearing up to join the pack. :) Yay!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14! YAY! However, I do have to say that this chapter is pretty much entirely lemony goodness...and HOT! So that's your warning. But if you don't want to read it, the only REALLY important part is at the beginning in Morgan's POV. However, something really sweet happens down in Jake's POV. This the fluffy chapter before I start digging into the nitty-gritty with what bad things are going on so enjoy the peace.**

***Disclaimer***

**Please Enjoy! and be sure you have time. It's kind of long.**

* * *

**MorganPOV**

This was not looking too hot. Jacob was no doubt busy with his alpha female and Seth was probably still over at Shelby's dad's house. And Lucas? Well, Lucas was getting out of control. So much about him had changed in the week that passed, that it was hard to see the gentle but strong man he'd been. This rant and rave was a thousand times worse than all his other little spats. He'd cool off fast after those, but this one? Nope, hell was being raised tonight, folks.

What had set him off? Me telling him where I'd been for the last couple hours. He was currently pacing around my living room while I sat on the couch with a mug of hot chocolate.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

I rolled my eyes for the thousandth time tonight night. "I did. You just weren't listening."

He paused just right in front of the fire so that I could see the sweat beading on his upper lip. It wasn't that hot in here. Frowning, I slowly got up from the couch, put my mug on the table, and went up to him. He let me put my hand to his face and rub my thumb over his mouth. God, he was soaked with sweat. And his skin scorched my palm.

"You're burning up," I muttered more to myself. "Maybe you should go outside where it's cooler."

Anger replaced the look of lust that had taken over his face. "Oh, so now you just wanna throw me outside like a dog?"

I shook my head and glared at him. "That's not what I said. Lucas, if you don't calm down, you're going to phase here in my living room. No offense but the space isn't big enough. Have you looked at Emily Uley lately? You could hurt me, no matter if I am a wolf."

He wasn't hearing me. Those eyes glared down at me as he brushed my hand away from him. "Whatever," he said as he stalked out the front door. "If you didn't want me here, all you had to do was say so."

The door slammed hard behind him. Goddammit! How the hell did people deal with this shit? I had just picked up my mug and was about to throw it when I heard the first scream. Shit! He'd phased out on the front lawn.

Rushing for the door, I threw it open to find chaos. Lucas' fur coat was a deep gray, nearly black. The mask around his eyes actually was black, making his wolf form look sinister. He was wobbly on four legs, but managed to keep them under him. When he finally stilled and stood to his full height, I knew I was in trouble. He was a massive, magnificent male as he raised his hackles at the passing citizens of the rez. The women scooped up their kids while the men ushered them down the street.

In mid-leap out the front door, I phased.

_Lucas!_ I yelled mentally in the mix of other voices from the pack.

_Morgan?_ He said back in confusion. I watched as his head swiveled around. Apparently he wasn't used to hearing voices in his head. When the confusion faded and he growled, I knew he was back to being pissed. _What the hell do you want?_

_You need to calm down, Lucas. You'll hurt someone. Please._

_Sorry that I actually turned into the dog you accused me of being._

_LUCAS! _I shouted over the growing crescendo of the pack._ Shut up! I did not call you a dog. Look, I imprinted on you. I belong to you. If anything I'm your dog. Please calm down._

His massive form whirled to face me. Those long white teeth were wicked sharp as he bared them at me. In the face of his enormity and aggression, I whimpered and hunkered down, trying to create as little a target of my body as possible. But when I met his eyes, everything changed. And I could see the power of the imprint in his mind as his took hold of me. The moment I saw it, relief nearly took me the rest of the way to the ground. My fears hadn't been realized. It hadn't been a one way street. I'd feared that once he phased, he wouldn't imprint on me. But I watched it in his mind as every string that kept him here on earth was cut and replaced with me. Even his father fell down to second in line.

And that relief pissed me off. He'd had a choice before to leave me and find something better. But now, he was pretty much stuck with me

_Oh, shut up,_ he said into my head in a cocky tone. _You know you like what I do to you. And I like it, too._

My mind went blank as my metaphorical eyebrows shot into my hairline. He hadn't been phased for even five minutes and already he was a sexual being. With both of us being phased, I could see how much he wanted me, how much he had always wanted me. He'd been too scared of me before, but now that he was bigger and stronger than me, he knew he could take me the way he wanted to. And so help me, I wanted it, wanted him. The passion was even on both sides now as the imprint rooted itself into his brain. I didn't even know if this had happened before, two wolves imprinting on each other, but it was a pretty strong connection.

_Uh, gross. Can you two, like, phase back? Watching you two get it on in the metaphorical is gonna make me hurl. K, thanks. _Embry mentally gagged in a push to get us to do what he wanted.

_Come around back with me, _I said to Lucas.

For the sanity of the pack, I kept my thoughts shut down while Lucas kept right on my tail as I went around to the very private backyard of my house. Once we were there, I turned around to come nose to nose with the giant gray wolf.

_How do we phase back? _he asked.

_Just think about being in human form, walking upright, talking. Think about using your fingers and toes. I guess, you could say that you should center yourself. It's the whole mind over matter thing._

I watched closely as he closed his eyes and visualized being human, moving his fingers and toes, scrubbing a hand through his hair, holding my hand. Kissing me with human lips. As his mind started to slip away, I phased back. We were gloriously naked before each other, but he didn't know that. Lucas still had his eyes closed like he was still picturing kissing me.

My eyes roamed his body. He was positively gorgeous. So tall that seven feet was just barely out of reach. Probably a couple inches shorter than Jacob. His chest was broad and wonderfully muscled. Abs formed a perfect six-pack that was any girl's wet dream. Tight hips lead down to the juncture of heavy thighs. That part of him that was all male was tinted dark with the blood that had started to pool there, making him long and thick.

I couldn't help my dark laugh, knowing that he was all mine.

Slowly, his eyes opened…and then peeled wide when he caught sight of me. He swallowed hard. "You're naked."

I grinned wickedly. "And so are you."

His head snapped down as his hand came around to cover himself.

"Don't," I said taking a step toward him. "I want to see you."

"You do?"

I nodded. "We're imprinted. Me to you and you to me. We're meant to be mated. If you don't want to right now, that's ok. But I saw in your mind when we were phased how bad you wanted me, how you wanted to take me."

"You did?"

Again, I nodded and took a couple more steps.

He blushed. "Sorry."

"Don't be. I loved seeing that. And I want it, too. All my life I never once belonged to anybody. I want that to change. I want to be your female."

Yes, I was letting my girlie side take over, but Lucas was showing me that I didn't have to be a hard ass all the time. There were moments that I could truly be a female, especially if I trusted who I was around. Over the past week, he and I had barely spent any time away from each other, mainly because of him, and he insisted on being chivalrous toward me. There must have been something about me that he felt he needed to protect, because he'd glare at any guy I came into contact with as if he were mentally willing them not be an asshole to me or he'd feed them their own eyes.

And now that he'd joined the pack, that threat was more accurate.

I was right in front of him when his eyes studied my face first and then my body. He swallowed hard as his eyes darkened even more.

"I want you to be my female, too. I want-no, _need_-to be your male."

"Then make love to me, mate me."

His eyes grew hooded as his breath caught. Again, his smooth throat worked as he swallowed hard. "I don't know how, remember? I'm a virgin."

My body grew warmer than usual at the thought that I would be the one to claim that special prize, and be the only person to ever be able to touch him that way. My thighs rubbed together while I imagined him using my body with which to experiment, with which to learn.

"What do I do?" he demanded in a husky voice. "Tell me."

It was my turn to fight for air as I decided on the truth of what to tell him. What I was about to say was something that I had never ever said to a lover before, but it felt like the most natural thing in the world to say to the male standing in front of me.

Before I could answer, though, I felt him step closer to me. Our bodies were a breath away from each other when he put his hands on my shoulders, running them up my neck. He was taller than me and I could feel the warmth of his maleness against my stomach. The heat of him warmed me even more and made my thighs shake with anticipation.

"Tell me, Morgan," he whispered.

I swallowed hard as his finger tip traced my collarbones, and then uttered the words I have never said. "You can do whatever you want to me. Just follow your body's instincts. Wha…what do you want to do to me?"

He moved closer. While his one hand kept its slow rhythm over my collarbones, his other came up to stroke my hair. "I guess it's the male in me, but I want you underneath me." A low growl shivered up from his chest. "I want to touch you. I want my name on your lips while my mouth is somewhere else."

I gave him what he wanted when I breathed out, "Lucas," on a sigh.

This was the dominant side of him that I'd sensed over the past week. He'd shown me glimpses, and though I'd tried to pull it out of him, it had taken him phasing for the first time for him to embrace the raw maleness that all the males of the pack had in them. From what I had heard of the mated males, they were gentle with their imprints. But I'd also heard that they were fierce and dominant lovers. I'd even heard and seen that the other females of the pack submitted to their wolf males. It was just the way of the world, even if we females were so tough, that the males were dominant and aggressive.

And for once, I wanted to submit.

"Tell me you want that, too. I want to hear you say it. Say you'll let me in."

It took a few moments of swallowing against my dry throat to get it slicked enough to talk. I slid my hands up his arms, took a deep breath, and stepped into him, pressing our naked bodies together. We both hissed and gasped at the contact. His erection was warm and throbbing against my stomach. My breasts pressed to his very solid chest.

"I want you," I whispered. "I want your hands on me."

With a growl, his lips came down to crush mine. For a moment, I fought against him, but remembered that I _wanted_ to submit. I wanted to know what it was like, so I let him dominate the kiss, his lips, tongue, and teeth nipping at me. Heavy hands roamed my back from the nape of my neck all the way down to the dimples of my lower back just above my ass. When his fingers inched down further, I rotated my hips against his thighs. A moan left his mouth to be muffled into mine while his hands dipped lower to cup my ass and pull me to him. I broke the kiss so that I could let out an erotic sigh. My body rushed and tightened when I felt his erection pulse harder into my stomach. That hard staff of flesh was long and thick, and I couldn't wait until he put it to good use even though I wondered if he'd fit. None of my lovers had been like him. This would be a learning curve for me, as well.

With my hands still on his shoulders, I made a little hop and wrapped my legs around his waist. If he hadn't known before that I wanted him, he knew now. The center of me was wet and ready and hot against the muscles of his tight stomach. Long fingers tightened on my ass as he growled and turned to my back door. He was busy holding me up, so when I felt the door at my back, I reached back to the knob and turned it. While our mouths still devoured each other, he walked through the door and kicked it closed behind him. We'd had some heavy make-out sessions between us in this house, and he knew every inch of it. That was why he could navigate us to the deep-set couch that was my most favorite piece of furniture in the house. The thing was nearly as wide as a full-sized mattress, but a thousand times more comfy.

I had expected Lucas to toss me onto the cushions, but no, he just fell with me in his arms. Our lips never lost contact until he moved down and away from my face, down my jaw and to retrace the trail of his fingers over my collarbones. My legs were still wrapped around his waist so when I undulated against him, the toned muscles of his stomach clenched to create the most delicious friction that had me panting and wanting more.

Lucas and his luscious lips moved further down my body. When I opened my eyes, I found his watching my face. Those dark eyes locked on mine as he flicked his tongue over my peaked nipple. I wanted to toss my head back with another sigh, but watching him watch me while he sweetly tortured my body was erotic as hell and made me climb higher. He must have thought so, too, because he bared his teeth in a growl before wrapping his lips around me. We both groaned at the same time.

He leaned over to put his weight on his right arm while his left hand came up to stroke my hair and the naked side of my body. Goosebumps shivered down my body as my breath came out in a shaky sigh. And then his tongue did something sinful around my breast. The nipple tightened even more and my back arched off the couch.

This was incredible. I'd never gotten so high so fast off so little. Compared to things I've done with other men, Lucas had only done a little petting, but I was a panting, sweaty mess in his arms. He'd brought out the reaction in me with just that little bit that other men had only been able to do with hard, pounding thrusts, throwing their whole bodies into it.

"You ok?" he asked with a husky voice.

I managed a nod. "Yeah, just don't stop. Please, don't stop."

He growled again and went for my other breast. "Wasn't planning on it. I fully plan on losing my V-card tonight. It's all yours."

That, as well as his mouth sucking my breast in, made my whole body buck up off the couch.

He chuckled a deep, masculine sound. "You like that, do you?"

"Oh, god, yes. I want that card punched so badly. Please, Lucas."

As he exhaled, his breath played across the wetness his mouth had made over my skin and made me shiver again.

"What do you want? Tell me how to make love to you, Morgan. Where do you want me?"

Impulsively, I said, "Inside me. God, Lucas, I really want your first time to be slow and good, but I _need _you."

His massive frame moved down, his lips skimming my skin all the way down to my belly button. "I think I can handle slow and good later. Right now, I need my female. But first, there's something I've always wanted to do only to you."

I had to swallow hard before I could talk. "What is that?"

His eyes met mine. The look in them was that masculine glint that men got when their women were naked underneath them, begging them to take them. It was a look of pride and satisfaction. The grin was also that of a male satisfied as he dropped his face down. And that was when I realized that he'd moved further down.

The first touch of his lips against my core threw my head back and jacked my body off the cushions. My hands needed something to hold onto so I thrust them down into Lucas's hair, pushing him closer to me.

For a virgin, he was extremely attentive. His silky smooth lips caressed the outer layers of me. Slowly, he slid around and over me, his breath adding to the pressure. Moving my hips against him, his hands gripped my thighs to keep them spread wide to accommodate the breadth of his shoulders. But then I found out why his grip tightened: his tongue made an appearance, spearing into me in a quick thrust. Again, my spine arched as I felt my body rush again. Surprising the hell out of me, he lapped up what he'd caused to come forward.

A groan vibrated out of his mouth and against that secret place of mine. "God, you taste amazing."

Then he was back to licking, sucking, and nipping at me until I was writhing under him. He'd had to move one of his arms across my hips to keep me from bucking around. But that was ok. I was letting him dominate me, putting me where he wanted me. My hands still pressed his head closer to me, and when he tongue-dived me again, harder this time though, I nearly scalped him with my nails. But he didn't seem to mind. All he did was growl out against me.

And that was my breaking point.

The orgasm hit me hard, tightening my stomach, and causing stars to burst behind my eyelids. I felt like my body completely shattered apart and yet was tethered down to the earth by where his mouth sealed against me.

His tongue shot up to the top of my sex to flick over that bundle of nerves in order to draw out the orgasm.

"Lucas!" I screamed when I could catch my breath.

I flew apart at least three times before I settled back down. All of my limbs went limp around him where before my thighs had pressed against his head and my hands had gripped his head hard to me.

Crawling up my body, his shoulders rolled sensuously as he prowled to kiss me, his mouth still wet from me. When he pulled back, his tongue came out to sweep up what was left. The purr that came out of him wasn't the least bit cute. It was pure sex. Which made me look down. He was hard as a rock, so long he reached his belly button, and nearly as thick as my wrist…and I was big boned.

"See something you like?" he drawled.

Looking up, I met his eyes. And felt the answering heat in mine. "Are you sure you're a virgin?"

That made him frown a little. "Why?"

"Because that was fucking amazing." When he grinned, I sat up a little to kiss the underside of his jaw. "I want you in me," I whispered into his skin. He was throwing off the most intoxicating scent. It was more than the scent of sex. The saltiness was mixed with a hint of sweet.

His hips ground into mine, his erection rubbing across my waist. "I just wanted to do that before we did the rest. It was top priority."

My hands had a mind of their own as they traced their way up his arms and across his shoulders. The muscles of his back feathered out from his spine, moving under his smooth skin as he rubbed over me. But I had a destination in mind. Moving one hand up to the nape of his neck, the other moved down and around his hip to the front of him.

"Well, your top priority was amazing and is now done. So I want you to make love to me," I wrapped my palm around that hard staff, making him groan, "with something else."

Without any more foreplay or stroking him, he gripped my wrist, detached my hand, and thrust forward with his hips. I was still wet enough to take him in, but I was tight. Oral always made me that way, so he had to fight for each inch. But I loved it. And when I tried to grind my hips into him, he reached between us to place a hand between my hip bones.

"No. I wanna take you," he panted. We both groaned as he slipped in another inch. "I just don't wanna hurt you."

"You won't. Just please, Lucas. I love the dominance so don't let it slip. Move for me." Reaching down, he let me grip his tight ass and pull him in another inch.

I didn't have to ask again.

Planting his fists into the cushion on either side of me, he reared up above me, and, with a powerful thrust, he finished the penetration to the base of him. We groaned in unison at the joining. And we repeated when he pulled back slowly and thrust back hard and fast. The dance he created was torture and pleasure all in one.

But after a couple of the slow-out and fast-in routine, his body took control from his brain, the pleasure too much to think through. Each of his thrusts created a searing heat that washed through me from where we were joined. His hips pistoned against me, rocking our bodies, causing the couch to screech over the hardwood floor. I reached up to grip his wrists so that he wouldn't push me to the edge.

Apparently, he wasn't going as hard as he wanted because he reached up to grip the arm of the couch to give him better leverage. I had to let go of his wrists and brace myself against the side just under his hands, pushing into his oncoming thrust.

In the silent room, all that was heard was our harsh breathing, the screaming of the couch, and the sound of flesh on flesh. Lucas was clearly not a hesitant lover. He'd taken control fast and hard, and it was amazing. Fear was not a word that described him now, not with me. Now, he knew that I was truly his.

I knew I'd be sore tomorrow, but the erotic sound of his hips landing against mine was creating the delicious tightness and rough breathing that came with an orgasm, a big one.

Needing to touch him, I lifted one hand up to his side, digging my nails in. When I did, his body bucked, the thrust harder than all the others. And that caused his body to start losing its rhythm, his thrusts staying harder and erratic.

"Lucas, I'm almost-,"

"Hush," gasped out. "You come when I say."

The command surprised me. But what shocked me more was that my body eased back on its rush to finish, obeying his command, his dominance.

"Nails," he grunted. "I want your nails in me when we come-together." His voice was tight as if he were fighting his own release until he got what he wanted. Or maybe he couldn't come until he got it. Was this the dark side of him? If so, I was so on board with that.

And not being one to disappoint, I dug my nails deeper into his side. The buck-and-thrust that came with it was nearly painful. I could have sworn that I felt him pass my belly button. Definitely going to be hurting tomorrow.

"Almost," he gritted through his teeth. "More."

I was on the verge of drawing blood, so I brought my other hand up to his skin. As soon as I did, my body was pushed on the cushions, head pressing into where my hands had just been.

"Now!"

_Thank God_, I thought as the heat returned with a vengeance. I dug my nails into his sides, drawing blood as the orgasm hit us both like a piledriver. The wood of the couch creaked as he gripped it, my name leaving his lips on a shout, his name leaving mine on a scream. Our releases fed each other. When he came, my body clamped down on his, milking him causing him to release again, making me release.

And so the circle continued until our bodies were totally spent and he went soft inside of me and my body released him. We were a sweaty, heaving heap of tangled limbs, sweat, and other fluids as our hearts calmed down and our breathing slowly wound down so that we didn't sound like we'd just run to Canada and back in five minutes.

When I could move my arms, I brought them up to caress his hair. He'd collapsed on top of me, his face buried in my neck. It was cool in the house and we both shivered as the sweat on our bodies met the chill in the air.

"Are you ok?" he croaked out.

I smiled and sighed contentedly. "Very much ok. You?"

He nodded, pressing a kiss to my neck. "That was the best possible punch that card could have gotten."

That made me laugh, which was bad. He was still inside of me, but very sensitive. Wincing against my skin, he pulled his hips back tiredly to draw out of me. The sensation made me writhe as aftershocks rocked through me.

"Sorry," he groaned as he rolled off me, but taking me with him, drawing me to him.

I stroked his chest. "Don't be. We're cool."

"Morgan?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you," he whispered.

He said it as if he knew I wouldn't take it well. Which, had I still been the old Morgan, he would have been right. But him phasing, and our love making had changed everything. He'd imprinted on me, and that meant he was as tied to me as I was to him. We belonged to each other completely.

So, I said the only thing that I knew would knock the socks off of him.

"I love you, too."

And love him, I did.

**JPOV**

Nessie's body was curled up tight to the side of mine. Again, she was the only thing that had ever been hot to me since the day I phased, and being inside of her just increased the heat. We were cozied up on the giant pallet of blankets in front of the fire, still recovering from round one. Sure as shit there were going to be more.

Right now though, we were both still breathing hard and the sweat was still cooling on our skin. My arm was wrapped around her shoulders, hand stroking her hair and back and hips, while I stared into the fire. My brain was cooking up all sorts of things like where in the cabin I wanted to take her and how.

Her fingers danced over my skin in little pictures as she sighed contentedly. The feel of her touching me like that left me sighing shakily, and had a purr starting low in my chest.

She giggled. "That feel good?"

I squeezed her. "Feels amazing."

She kept it up for a few more minutes, and her gentleness had me thinking again, but not about anything too happy. This first round tonight had been fast and frenzied, as usual. And all on my part. As soon as she was under me, I had to be inside of her. It became a race to get us both off fast so that I could leave a part of me with her. But none of the sex since we'd started had been slow and just for pleasure.

I must have been frowning too hard because she brought up a finger to slide it between my eyes. "You ok?"

I forced a smile. "Yeah, I'm good." She didn't believe me so I hurried on. "You said earlier that you brought me something. What was it?"

Her eyes widened. "Shoot."

Quickly, she sat up and looked around the room. I looked with her so that when her eyes hit the hoodie that I had tossed all the way to the top of the stairs that lead to the bedroom I saw her purse her lips.

She turned back to me to give me a look. "What, you couldn't have tossed it closer to the couch?"

I shrugged and gave her puppy dog eyes. "It's wasn't the hoodie I was interested in. I wanted what it was covering."

At first, her eyes softened, but then she gathered her strength and rolled her eyes. She tugged on the top blanket. "Give me this." When I lifted my arms, she stood up while simultaneously wrapping herself up. As much as I wanted to watch her walk around our new home naked, I knew that she would be too cold. I'd turned the heater down knowing that we'd be working up a sweat under the blankets in front of a fire. Not to mention my body heat would keep her warm if she got chilled.

Running over to the hoodie, she slipped something out of the pocket before I could see it. She came back on her tip-toes because no doubt the floor was freezing. But watching her bounce around in nothing but a sheet had me getting hard again. It wasn't difficult to imagine what her body looked like crossing the living room, her skin bathed in light from the fire. She'd be resplendent. One day, I'd leave the damn heater on.

When she came closer, her dark brown eyes met mine, and then swept my body. I swear she could see through the blankets because her eyes stopped right over my hips. But because there were at least six blankets on top of me, there was no way she could see that bulge. Before taking a deep breath and getting under the blankets again, she licked her lips, her pink tongue making a spectacular appearance.

As she settled back in, her cold feet pressed into my calves making me jump. But when she sat back up to lean against the couch, I followed suit.

She laughed. "Ok, close your eyes," she demanded.

"What?"

"Close. Them." When I did as she asked, she said, "Now hold out both of your hands, palm down."

Confused, I did it. How was she going to put something in my hands when my palms were facing the floor? There was some sort of creaking sound, a soft brush of fabric, and then…

Something cold and hard was placed around my left ring finger. My eyes snapped open to find Nessie's lower lip tugged between her teeth as she studiously didn't meet my eyes while sliding that ring on my finger.

"Ness?"

"Will you marry me?" she whispered.

I grinned so wide I probably pulled a few muscles. Gathering her up in my arms, I pulled her to me.

"Of course, you sill girl! I would never consider anything else!"

When she laughed, I pulled back to take her lips with mine. But after a moment, she pulled back. At least she was grinning now too.

"Look at it, Jake. I want you to look at it."

Still keeping my right arm wrapped around her, I pulled my left hand closer.

And stopped breathing.

It was a larger, more masculine version of my mother's ring, the one I had given to Nessie. It was some sort of dark metal, probably platinum knowing the Cullen taste. Wolves had been engraved into it. And were those-?

"Black diamonds," she said. "I didn't ask for them, but at least they aren't the white ones."

I tugged up her left hand and compared them. Billy had taught me woodworking and carving, so I could tell that these rings were done by the same hand.

"Ness, how-?" I was flat-out undone by this gift. I hadn't been expecting to wear a ring. Nessie wore my mother's so that the world knew that she belonged to someone.

Her smile dimmed a little, as if my reaction were lacking. "I asked Aunt Alice if we could get you a ring, too. I thought it would be nice. So, she drew a sketch of my ring and took it around to the shops. When she found it, she called me there saying that he needed to see me. The man took one look at me and one at the ring, and then walked off saying it would be done within the week." She frowned. "He never asked who it was for or the size or any sort of design. His son took the first half of the payment and we left. When I came back with Shelby and Seth today, we stopped at the house so Carlisle could check up on her, and Aunt Alice gave me the box."

Taking it all in, I flexed my hand. The thing fit perfectly and was a nice, heavy weight on my hand.

"Do you not like it?" she asked.

Shaking my head to clear it, I tugged her to me. "Of course I do. I love it actually. I just don't know how to say thank you for something like this. It's amazing." I leaned in and kissed her temple. "Thank you so much. I'll wear it every time I'm human, and miss it when I'm not."

Right then and there, I decided to buy a chain for her. On days I knew I had to phase, she could wear it until I came back to her. Jewelry had never been my thing, but this ring would be the one piece that I would wear with pride, because my future wife had been thoughtful enough to have it made. Not to mention that it probably cost a pretty penny, or two. Alice must have found the man that Billy had told me made mom's ring. No sizes, no questions, just done. I'd need to thank her, too.

Nessie's arms slid around my waist. She leaned in to press her lips to mine. "Are you sure you like it? You're not just telling me that?"

I pulled back so I could give her a serious look. "Renesmee, I love it already. True, jewelry has never been part of my wardrobe, but there is an exception to every rule. I can't wait to tell people that my wife had this ring made for me when I get asked about it. All other men will be jealous because their women just gave them a gold band. This ring is so much better and more thoughtful than that. If I know who made these, then I know that these are the only two rings that will ever be made like this. They're a perfect matching set that were made only for us. And that makes them worth so much more than any dollar amount on the planet."

This time I was worried about her pulling muscles in her face her grin was so wide.

"I love you, Jacob." She squeezed me. "I love you so damn much."

"And of course you know that I love you, too."

We shared a kiss before she straddled my thighs. My eyebrows shot into my hairline while she licked her lips and grinned at me.

My eyes narrowed playfully. "What are you up to?"

"It's my turn to make love to you," she said in a deep voice, instantly getting me hard. A low laugh spilled from her lips as she felt me lengthen against her thigh.

"Ness-,"

"Uh, uh, uh. You're always the dominant one, and I think you've done enough marking of me. It's time for me to do a little marking of my own."

I almost came right then and there. Her voice was low and sexy, commanding. And I realized that she had been right: she was the only one that I would ever submit for. She was truly my alpha female.

She leaned in, her naked breasts pressed to my chest so that I could feel her peaked nipples, and started to kiss me slow and languid. When I tried to kiss her back, she shook her head and set her teeth to my lower lips. My eyes temporarily rolled. I was kind of surprised that I couldn't see my brain. And then she was off to my jaw while her fingers played over my chest, nails digging in here and there. But when I tried to raise my arms to touch her, she pushed them back down at the wrist. Damn, she wanted me completely passive.

I hissed when her hot core rubbed up against me. She'd moved closer so that she could kiss the spot just under my ear. Oh, God. I had no idea of I was going to last long. And she seemed to sense it because she made quick work of her kisses all the way down to my hips.

The blankets got kicked back as we started to warm back up, and I could see her on all fours bent over my legs, her face so close to the straining length of me. I spread my legs and she moved to kneel between them.

Her eyes met mine for two point five seconds. And then I realized what she was going to do right before she turned her head and pressed a kiss to that soft, blunt second head of mine.

The breath rushed out of my lungs as my fingers gripped the blankets under us.

"Jesus…_Christ,_" I moaned out.

She chuckled and her breath caressed me. Oh, man. I had almost gotten control of myself enough to focus on her again when her hot palm wrapped around me. My hips jacked up of the floor to create the friction I was dying for. But she didn't waste time at all. Though her fingers couldn't meet at the base of me, that didn't slow her in the least. She'd become a master at hand-jobbing me, knowing where all the perfect spots were. But what I hadn't expected was the tight warmth of her mouth.

My eyes snapped open in time for me to see her tongue play over the head of me. And though my eyes wanted to do their backflip routine again, I kept them on her so that I could watch her. Dark brown eyes met mine for a moment before they closed and she concentrated on what she was doing.

Her head bobbed shallowly before her jaw widened and she took half of me into her mouth in one long pull. Her hand stroked the base of me all the way up to meet her mouth. In seconds, that erection was as wet and slick as if I had just been inside of her tight heat.

My stomach tightened and released as if my body couldn't decide whether it wanted to release now or continue to watch her. My brain and body were at war, but my brain was winning because I liked how sexual she looked, all female predator taking her prey the way she wanted it.

While she kept her mouth and one hand busy on my shaft, her other hand went down to cup the twin weights and massage gently. My hips nearly bucked until I told myself that if they did we'd hurt her. So they obeyed, which was amazing considering what she was doing to me. With every bob of her head, she went further and further down, her throat becoming more comfortable, I guessed.

And then, for a moment, she just paused. It took me a moment to realize that she was taking in a deep breath…before going all the way to my base-with her mouth. The tight constriction of her throat nearly had me doubled over in pain from the need to orgasm.

She stayed that way for a moment, playing her tongue over me. And when she came back up, I sagged against the couch.

Relearning how to breathe.

**RPOV**

Holy. Crap. I had just gone down on Jacob. I had just deep-throated him. Not knowing where the hell that had come from, I didn't question it. Licking my lips, he tasted like heaven. Honey mixed with musk and male sweat. Sweet and salty.

As I breathed hard for a moment, I watched as a single clear drop emerged from him. Without thinking about it, I leaned in and licked it off. Now, Jacob allowed his hips to buck hard, as if compensating for the time he'd forced himself down so as not to shove himself into me.

"God, Nessie, that was-,"

To shut him up, I squeezed him. His words cut off on a gasp before I slid my mouth back over him. He was a hot, hard candy in my mouth. Silky smooth and hard as steel. Popping him out of my mouth, my lips brushed the side of him, where all that extra skin was. Making sure to watch his face for signs of pain, I gently used my teeth to grab it, then sucked that skin into my mouth. His head flopped back onto the couch while his mouth worked to try to get some air. I then used my tongue to soothe it out, and a rush of oxygen went down into his lungs.

I allowed him a few more breaths before I pulled him back into my mouth and created a rhythm between my hand and my lips. When that length was wet and slick again, I removed my hand, took a deep breath around him, and went all the way down for the second time. He was thicker at the base, so my jaw had to open wider. The head of him reached down into my throat, but strangely it didn't bother me. Maybe I didn't have a gag reflex. Whatever, all I knew was that I liked the sounds he made as my lips connected with his body.

"Nessie, I'm gonna-,"

He didn't get to finish. In a rush, I felt him jerk in my mouth before hot jets went down my throat. I tried to breathe and swallow him down without biting him. But feeling him release in me like that brought on my own heat and wave, my body turning into a furnace while he jerked in my mouth. So I slid up about halfway where he wasn't as thick to breathe and swallow more easily.

Eventually, the jerking stopped, but he wasn't finished. That hard flesh was still long, thick, and proud.

Sitting back, I let him slide from my mouth to land on his belly so that he could catch his breath. I wasn't done with him yet. I was waiting for his breathing to even out and his eyes to focus again, so I studied him. Over the course of the night, I'd remarked his chest and given him a couple hickeys over his collarbones. Red welts on his skin were the result of our earlier love making, but most of those were on his back.

I was determined to give him some on his front. But I also had similar markings. More hickeys, some red marks from his grip. Some of those would turn into bruises, but I had assured him that they were love marks and I didn't care. Shelby had been right. Jacob was the alpha male. The sex was bound to be rough for a little while at first because he was marking his territory. Finally, he and the wolf were on the same page when it came to me. I was his female, and he was determined to make sure that other people knew that he satisfied me more than any man ever could.

Well now, it was time for me to make sure that people knew _he _was satisfied. The moment he lifted his head from the couch and those deep, dark eyes focused on me, I moved so that his knees were between mine again so that I could prowl up his body. My tongue licked one long line up his torso, along his neck, and under his jaw. I allowed his hands to come up and grip my hips. As long as gripping was all he did. I was in charge and so I went where I wanted, when I wanted.

With that being said, I kissed his lips and reached between our bodies at the same time. He groaned when I stood him up. Leaning up on my knees, I brushed the head of him against me, but not penetrating. I knew when he felt how wet and ready I was, because a low growl rumbled up his chest and thundered out his mouth. And when he tried to shove my hips down, I squeezed him again hard and shook my head.

"No, lover. Let me. Let me pleasure you. I want to ride you."

He growled again, but loosened his hold on me. I wanted to make love to him. All of our love making to date had been fast and rough. This time, I wanted slow and torturous. I wanted that sweet satisfaction to explode out of anticipation. So I released my grip on him, letting his belly catch him again and then lowered myself down so that I rubbed over him, slicking him up with my body's response. When he groaned again, I took his bottom lip between my teeth and bit down hard, drawing blood. I needed to taste him.

His blood was a rush of warmth and energy as it hit my tongue. My body tingled as I recognized the flavor of honey and musk. Sweet and salty just like his other parts. Again, he tried to take over by moving my hips faster, but I gripped his wrists and pulled them away from me.

With that freedom, I began to dance for him, over him. I'd never felt so seductive in my life, but I twirled and swung my hips over his until we were panting. Ok, it was time to finish this.

Moving back, I let him go to reach between us again. Gripping him, I stood him up, positioned him at my entrance and sat down slowly. Slow was good considering he was going deeper than he ever had before. It made sense that that would be the case but all of my attention to him had somehow thickened him to the point that he stretched me out something fierce. By now, I didn't have to have him stretch me with his fingers, but I guess oral drew more blood down to him.

"Oh, god," I groaned as our pelvises met. He was fully sheathed inside of me, and I could feel him throbbing as my core held him in.

"Move, Nessie. Please, move for me like you did a second ago."

Well, he didn't have to ask me twice. Though I was in charge of this session, my hips met his demand and started to sway and pump over and around him. My stomach tensed and loosened.

It wasn't long before I started to feel that heat spread from my core out to my stomach and thighs. Jacob's hot hands had come up to cup my breasts, kneading them in his strong, capable hands. And as I kept undulating against him, he sat up so that he could pull one of my nipples between his teeth while his thumb played over the other one. He tugged, pulled, and nipped at me until the tightened bud was dark and wet with his ministrations.

Deep inside me, I could feel him kick and jerk. He was close. His breathing was catching and those big hands tightened on my body. Teeth gritted together, he shoved his breath out. He'd closed his eyes but that's not what I wanted.

I lifted my hands from his shoulders to smooth his eyebrows. "Jacob, open your eyes. I want to see them when we come."

His hips jerked up into mine, bucking me against him as his eyes fluttered open. I cried out at the fierce heat and ownership in those dark depths. He thrust up one last time before his thumb traveled down to meet the bundle of nerves at the top of my sex. As soon as he touched me, the heat exploded in my body. As did his.

As his name left my mouth on a loud moan, I could feel his hot jets release into me on a deep thrust. His hands went to my hips to keep us ground against each other as we both shouted out. But our eyes never left the others.

In that moment, I felt something click deep inside me. This wasn't just about exchanging body fluids. In this moment, we were giving our souls to each other, not just our hearts. And it felt like more on his side, more trust. He hadn't trusted woman since my mother, and she'd ripped him apart when he'd thought that he was in love with her. Right now, in this moment, he was trusting me with the most intimate part of him, more intimate than the piece of him that was buried deep in my body. He was handing me the key to his being, the freedom in his heart, and the very essence of him in his soul. He was trusting me not to break him…at least not again. And I wouldn't.

When the sharing and exchange was finally done, a piece of me was in him, and a piece of him was in me. It was like a door had opened. And we were exhausted. I fell against his chest. He had just enough strength to hold me to him as he moved down onto his back on the pallet.

Reaching down at the same time, we both managed to get the blankets over us before we passed out to the most perfect union we'd ever known so far.

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**So? I hope it wasn't too bad for you guys, but I have to say that I love this chapter. Unfortunately, no Seth and Shelby time. Maybe they'll get theirs in the next chapter. Love you guys! xoxoxoxoxoxo**


	15. Chapter 15

**Hi! Yeah, I know. I'm sorry. But here is chapter 15. It was difficult to write, or rather, to decide whether or not to put it in this story instead of the third, but I rather liked it here. A lot of you were asking for drama and whatnot, so here it is.**

***Disclaimer***

**Please enjoy!**

* * *

**RPOV**

"Man, Ness. This ring is frickin' awesome," Jacob said as he came up into the kitchen from the bedroom. We'd taken turns for the shower. I'd gone first so that I could get breakfast ready while he was taking his.

As predicted, we'd each had marks on our skin from the night before. Neither of us complained about them. And neither of us would change what had happened between us. Jacob had told me this morning that he'd felt something connect us last night. I'd told him I'd felt the same thing, and now, we truly felt like we had married ourselves to each other. We still wanted the wedding, though. Not to mention that Aunt Alice had started to plan it to happen in a couple months. Probably in October. I'd told her that a Halloween wedding better not include the color orange.

I turned to him now with a smile. "I'm glad you like it."

"I love it." He came up to wrap his arms around my waist as I washed the dishes I'd used. "It's perfect, just like you."

I turned my head so that he could kiss me.

"Food smells good. I'm starving."

Waffles with real butter and syrup, bacon, and hash browns were lined up on the counter. Once I was done with the dishes, I helped him take all of it to the table. We ate in companionable silence, occasionally commenting on the food or rings or weddings. It was nice and quiet.

"So," he said. "You wanna unpack today?"

I shook my head and swallowed the orange juice I'd just sucked back. "No, in all honesty I need to hunt. It's been a while. And I gotta check in with Aunt Alice about the wedding since you wanted to push it up. You need to check in with the pack." When he pouted at me, I pointed my fork at him. "There's still a threat out there. We had our slice of heaven last night. Let's not push our luck."

Instantly, his face sobered. "Right. Man, being locked up with you makes me forget things like that."

I smiled. "That's why I'm here to remind you."

A moment later his phone rang out.

"Dammit," he grumbled.

I laughed as he got up to grab it off the charger and answer it.

"You're kidding me," he said. "Well, hell. Is he ok? Oh, ok, that's good. No, we're fine, but we'll be heading down to the house soon. Yeah." Loooooong silence. "Damn, another one? Three?! Jesus. Wait, what? He just collapsed?" Another long silence as if someone were explaining something. I got up to slide my arms around his waist. His free hand came down to rub my arm. "Shit. Is he ok? Yeah, absolutely. He wants to see Nessie?"

My blood ran cold. What the hell happened? And who was it this time? Jacob scrubbed his face and then returned his hand to my arm.

"Yeah, we'll be down there ASAP. Hey, how's Shelby?" He nodded and sighed. "Good, that's good. Yeah, see you in a few."

He hung up, threw the phone on the counter, and turned in my arms to wrap his around me.

"What happened, Jacob?"

He sighed. "Good news or bad news first?"

"Bad," I said. Hopefully the good news would cheer me up a little after the bad.

He took in a deep breath and let it out into my hair. "Derek and Adam found three torn apart deer in the woods. Completely shredded just like the others."

The color drained from my face. "What? Three?"

I felt him nod against my hair. "Yeah. When Caden showed up, Adam said he looked like he'd been trying to remember something. As soon as clarity hit and he was about to say something, he dropped to the ground, screaming and holding his head like it was on fire. And then he just passed out. The moment he woke up, which was about five minutes ago, he asked to see you."

"Then we need to go, but what's the good news?"

Whatever it was made him chuckle. "Lucas finally joined the pack."

I pulled back to look at him. "Really?"

"Mhm. And he imprinted on Morgan instantly. According to Embry, Morgan took care of him all night." He said that with an impish grin.

I rolled my eyes. "They're going to be as bad as us."

He laughed. "Probably. He's a man's man and she's…well, she's just as aggressive."

"That's true. Are they at the house?"

He nodded. "They're on their way up. Seth called a meeting."

Pulling away from him, I went to clean up our breakfast. Jacob helped and together we got the kitchen spotless. We decided to leave the blankets on the living room floor, but washed the ones we'd been directly on top of and below. I also needed to change shirts because I'd grabbed one of his tanks to throw on while I made breakfast.

"And it looks better on you than me," he whispered into my ear. Oops, I was projecting again.

Laughing, I shook my head and went for the stairs. Five minutes later, I waded back through all the boxes to the stairs in my favorite purple sweater. I met Jacob at the door and he locked it behind us, making the security alarm beep. We both looked back at the cabin and then smiled at each other. This was our home. Man, that was a strange yet amazing thought. He took my right hand in his left, and I could feel the solidness of the ring on his finger. The pride made my stomach tighten and my eyes water.

"You ok?" he asked, sensing my tears.

I nodded and held up his hand. "I just like this- a lot." And kissed his fingers.

"I like it, too. I also like to think about you sliding it back on in front of everybody when we get married."

I laughed. "The thought of you in a fancy tux just for little ole me is quite a dashing thought."

He pulled me to him in the middle of the woods. "It'll only happen once, so you better remember it. But the thought of you in a fancy white dress already takes my breath away. I just might pass out when I see the real version."

A grin stretched my cheeks. "As long as you say 'I do' first."

"Absolutely."

He was about to lean down to kiss me when a shiver went up my spine. That shiver jolted throughout my whole body. Something wasn't right. Suddenly, I felt like the most sinister thing in the world had its eyes on me and was boring a hole in my chest. I couldn't quite seem to get a good breath.

"Nessie?" Jacob asked.

The feeling that danger was so close to us had my knees collapsing.

"Nessie!" He caught me before I hit the ground, but that still didn't help any air get into my lungs.

And then the pain hit.

My entire body went on the fritz as my lungs finally found air and used it to scream. My brain star-bursted on me as I tried to focus on Jacob's face. But the only thing that came to me was the shadows of my nightmares. A cloaked figure stepping out of the woods. That same shadow in a burning cabin. And when a face started swimming to the top, a new pain speared down my spine, paralyzing me.

Dimly, I could hear Jacob cussing and talking to someone on the phone. My body became weightless when he picked me up. But other than that, my head was like scrambled eggs. There was no awareness or focus.

My eyes were rolling in the back of my head when the world went black.

**JPOV**

I ran as fast as I could through the woods with Nessie in my arms. She was barely breathing and I knew something was following us. If it had just been me, I might have faced off with whatever it was. But with my life in my arms, there was no way in hell I was risking her heart stopping. So with that, I forced my legs to go faster.

Two minutes later, two wolves, Derek and Adam by the color, joined us. They flanked me, and whatever had been chasing me eased back. I felt the presence fade away into the trees. I took my first deep breath when Nessie jerked in my arms. Her first deep breath was a shrill whistle down her throat. It ended with a sigh and her face buried in my chest.

The two wolves followed me all the way to the porch of the Cullen house where they then turned around and sat down on their haunches, eyes scanning the woods.

"Thanks, guys," I said before I darted for the door. Edward opened it two seconds before I hit it.

"What happened?" he demanded.

Instead of telling him with my mouth, I just replayed it for him. When Nessie had gone stone-still in my arms, I knew something was wrong. Her eyes had scanned the woods, narrowed, looking for something in the shadows. Unfortunately, the woods were thick and provided multiple hiding spots. And then I'd heard her breathing hitch before her knees collapsed. Though I was surprised, I'd managed to catch her. And then she'd screamed as her body shook violently. My heart had momentarily stopped with the sound. It was so full of pain and agony that I couldn't stand hearing it come from her, the woman I love.

"Were you able to catch a scent?"

I shook my head as I laid my female on the couch with her head in her mother's lap. My hand smoothed her hair but my eyes had gone to Bella's. Worry and an aching sadness were there in her now-topaz eyes. Back when she and Edward had been in the get-together stages, all the pain she'd endured had been emotional, but really nothing that would physically hurt her. Nessie's rough chapters of life were ten times worse, mentally and physically dangerous. And I knew that Bella was wishing all of this had happened to her instead of her beautiful daughter. Trying to put all the reassurance into my eyes that I could, I squeezed her hand when it went to replace mine on Nessie's hair, and then turned back to Bella's husband. His eyes were likewise attached to the still form of his daughter.

"Where's Caden? He said that he had something to tell her. Since she's out, he can tell me."

Ripping his eyes away from one of the most precious gifts he'd ever been given, Edward nodded and went for the stairs. I followed him all the way up to what had just yesterday been my and Nessie's room. When he opened the door, I knew Nessie had been right in saying we needed to take the bed even though we really didn't have anywhere to put it. Carlisle and Edward had transformed the space into a working hospital room. And I was pretty sure that there were more medical supplies set up in Shelby and Seth's old room.

"Wow, you guys work fast," I muttered.

He shrugged. "We've learned to never ignore Alice's visions. Plus, we never sleep. Have to occupy ourselves somehow."

Caden was in the hospital bed with a tube in his arm. He looked like death warmed over. In the space of one day, he looked like he'd lost half his body weight. Those prominent cheek bones looked like they were about to poke through his skin. The amber eyes were dull and sunken in. Leah was beside him, urging him to eat. He gave the food a nauseated look before she sighed and put it on the table.

"What the hell happened to you?" I asked coming into the room to stand beside the bed.

He swallowed hard, looking as if the thought of having to talk was going to kill him. "Where's Nessie?" he croaked out, the accent barely there.

"We had an incident on the way down here. You show me yours, I'll show you ours."

Closing his eyes, he settled back further into the bed. "When Seth called me up to the newest slaughter location, some bells rang in my head. I'd told you that I hadn't recognized the scent the first time. And at first, I hadn't. But it ate at me, like something was telling me that I really did know." He paused to take a deep breath and gather his strength. "When I went up there today, I realized what it was, or rather, who it was."

"Who?" I demanded.

Amber eyes opened to glare at me. "Her name is Nyla. You probably saw her that night at that cabin while you were in the woods with Tristan. She's always on his tail, watching over him. She wants him to mate her, to make her the alpha female of the pack. Nessie met her that night, landed her a solid knock-out blow."

Pride filled my chest at the thought of Nessie winning a fight like that. I wanted to know the details so I could praise her on it, but I didn't let that stop this conversation.

"That's why you wanted to talk to Nessie, but what made you pass out? And why is her scent different than what we've come to associate with your kind?"

Leah had taken his hand in hers, rubbing his knuckles soothingly. He seemed to find comfort in the touch because his eyes closed at the contact while his breathing started to become smoother. Man, they really loved each other.

"I don't know what made me pass out, not for sure, but I have a feeling it was me trying to remember that night. There's something missing in my memories and I tried to fight the pain to uncover it. Instead, it kicked my ass. Still I fought it when I hit the ground." I could hear his teeth grind. "I don't like the thought that someone or thing has been messing around with my mind. There was something else there that night. But all I can remember is massive amounts of pain, and then it cutting off abruptly. As it is, Nyla's scent is different because she was _born_ to two of my kind, not bitten or scratched. The disease is diluted."

I was about to say something when a vicious growl echoed through the room. Surprised, I turned to see Edward baring his teeth, mad hatred in his eyes.

"What? Edward, what is it?"

Then, he said the one word that made my blood run cold.

"Jane."

A heartbeat of silence was followed by Leah letting out a scream behind me. Spinning around to face the bed again, I saw Caden's spine arched off the bed, his limbs straining and a silent scream leaving his lips. His mouth was working the air roughly in and out of his lungs, and his eyes were peeled wide.

A second later, the door flew open. Adam was standing there, naked as the day he was born, eyes taking in the scene. "Leah, touch him. Climb up on the bed."

"Why?" she asked, tears flowing down her face.

"The imprint. It will help him. At least, if what he and I have talked about is correct, it should."

Without another word, Leah climbed up onto the bed, straddled his legs, and took his face between her hands. He was still arched up off the bed, eyes on the ceiling, mouth still open.

"Caden? Caden, please look at me," she barely whispered.

But it was enough. His eyes moved to her face, his breath rushed back into him, and his big body eased back down onto the bed. Leah stayed on the bed but moved to lie down beside him. She pulled him to her so that his head rested against her heart. She was still crying as she stroked his dirty blond hair.

"How did you know that would work, Adam?" Edward asked.

Adam nodded as his big shoulders released the tension. "Caden and I have been theorizing about the imprint. Ever since that night with both Shelby and Caden, we've been thinking that the imprint isn't just a one way road. The imprints are just as much tied to the wolf that did the imprinting. Both Caden and Shelby were imprints and healed much faster than they should have with Leah and Seth touching them."

"Going with that theory, why didn't Nessie wake up with them?" I asked, thinking there was something wrong with my tie to her.

Adam shook his head as if he knew where my thoughts were. "I think Edward was right when he said that she'd never been through something that traumatic before. Her mind was protecting her by keeping her under. It had nothing to do with you, Jake. Shelby and Caden have lead rough lives in different ways. They've already developed that coping mechanism whereas our alpha female hasn't."

"That name," came a croak from the bed. "I heard that name." Caden closed his eyes. "Jane," he whispered.

Edward and I both nodded, glancing at each other. If Jane had been there that night, that meant that the Volturi were indeed involved.

"You remember her now?" Edward asked. His eyes were focused, but not on anything or anybody in this room. He was digging in what Caden was looking at in his mind.

Caden nodded. "As soon as you said her name, everything became crystal clear." He shivered in Leah's arms. "Who is she?"

"A bitch from hell," Emmett growled out from the doorway. Most of the Cullens had come up when Leah had screamed.

Edward nodded in agreement, but said, "She's part of what we'll call the Royal Guard of the vampire royalty, the Volturi."

"I've heard of them," he said. He seemed to be returning back to normal fairly fast in the arms of his lover now that he had her close and his memories back. His eyes were filling out with alertness.

"I'm not surprised. They're the ones that have been hunting your kind to extinction on that side of the pond. Jane is one of their most prized jewels. She can dig into your mind and cause that pain you were talking about by just looking at you. Her brother is just as bad. He can make you lose all of your senses."

"There are two of them?"

"Puts new meaning to 'terrible twos'," Emmett said.

Edward frowned. "I'm surprised that he wasn't with her."

"Maybe she's acting alone," Rosalie said.

This was just like before. We were all in brainstorm mode, trying to figure out what their problem was with us now. Before it had been a case of mistaken breaking of their laws, but this time? We hadn't done anything.

I frowned. "To do something like this, wouldn't she need permission from one of her masters? One of the top three?"

Alice shook her head. "I've been watching all three of them since the last time they were here, remember? Because of how Caius was acting. I didn't trust him, so I broadened my spectrum. Not a peep from him or the others."

From the corner of the room, Carlisle looked like he was thinking something over.

"What's up, Carlisle?" I asked.

He took a deep breath. "Jane wouldn't go out on her own without her masters' permission. There must have been some sort of order given. And I'm willing to bet that it _was_ Caius given that the Children of the Moon are involved."

"But why wouldn't I have seen that decision from him?" Alice asked.

Jasper put his hands on her shoulders and massaged them. "It could have been planned _before_ they came the last time. Caius could have told her that if a battle didn't happen, then she was free to do as she wished."

"What about Alec?" Esme chimed in from beside her mate.

Carlisle pulled her close. "It's doubtful that he'd want to be parted from his sister, but one of them would have had to stay behind. Both of the Volturi's prized possessions leaving at the same time would be suspicious to the others. Especially if Aro doesn't know, and given his decision last time, he wouldn't tolerate someone going behind his back when he gave his word to leave us alone. I haven't received any form of warning. Not to mention, Alice had been watching him before they came the last time. I'm inclined to agree with Jasper."

"But he didn't do that, did he?" I said with a growl. "He pretty much said that they'd be back to check on Nessie."

"Check on, yes. Attack?" The doc shook his head. "Not a chance. Alice, tell them what you showed him that day."

The good doctor shared a look with Edward, who had shot him a stare.

Alice took a deep breath. "The reason he backed off was that he knew he and his brothers, and most of the guard, were going to die. I'd had a vision of his two choices. If he decided to go to war with us anyway, even after knowing what Nessie really was, they were going to die. We'd still have losses on our side, but they would be annihilated because of the wolves. If he chose to go home, he and his own would survive to live another day. He'd truly intended on just calling on us in a few years to check on my dear niece."

"And Caius hadn't been happy with that decision. Neither had Jane," Jasper said. And he would know with his emotion reading.

"So what?" I asked. "They planned a Plan B behind Aro's back?"

"I think the most important question is," Edward said. "Is how did Jane manage to talk the Children of the Moon to come after us?" He finished the question with a glance at Caden.

Caden sat up a little. "All I know was that Tristan was told that there was a coven of vampires here that had wolves as their guard dogs and were hunting us down, having their people come there to kill us."

"So they basically fed you their story, but made us the bad guys instead. Fabulous," I drawled.

The room went quiet after that, everybody lost in their own thoughts. Caius had Jane after us. And according to Carlisle, Aro didn't know. Kind of made me wonder what he would do if he found out that his brother and precious asset were plotting behind his back, staining his name and good word.

I was just about to make my third circuit around the room with my pacing when I heard, "Jacob?"

Snapping my head around, I found Nessie standing in the doorway with a worried and very confused look on her face. The moment I saw her, the vice that had been around my heart without my noticing loosened.

"Thank God," I whispered going over to her. I took her into my arms and the tightness completely disappeared. Kissing her hair, I tucked her close to me. She wrapped her arms around my waist and buried her face into my chest. "Are you ok? You scared the shit out of me."

She didn't answer my question. Instead, she squeezed my waist and then looked around my arm to the bed. "What happened to you?"

I gave him a warning look. Why? He'd gotten the look in his eyes that said that he wanted to ambush her with Jane's name just to see what happened. No, she'd know what was going on before we subjected her to that.

So he said it out loud. "We need to tell her," he said to Edward.

"Tell me what?" Nessie's eyes flicked from him to me. "Jacob, what do you need to tell me?" The scent of fear wafted from her pores, stinging my nose.

I cleared my throat. "There's been a development that we were and weren't anticipating."

Caden cut in. "I remember," he said with meaning. "I remember it all…with a name."

"What?" She looked back up to me again. "How is that possible?"

"Don't know. But your dad said the magic name."

"Well, what is it?" she demanded.

I shook my head. "Nessie, the reaction you may have will be painful. I just watched it."

Her hands clenched into my shirt. "What do you mean?"

Carlisle stepped forward. "The name is like a trigger. It seems as though you and Caden were right in saying that your memories had been tampered with. When this particular name had been said, it seemed to trigger all the memories in Caden."

Nessie clung to me as she thought about it.

"Nessie," Caden called to her. I turned with her still in my arms so that she could still lean on me and see him. "It will hurt, I promise you that. But also, my brain feels tons better now that all of that is out in the open. I don't feel so lost in my own head."

I glared at him in a warning, but he was right. She deserved to have the choice.

That seemed to decide her. She nodded. "Fine, let's do it. I want my memories back."

It was hard to believe that we were just talking about saying a name to her and not performing some long science experiment. But my fear was very real. After watching Caden get suspended up off that bed the way he had made me want to stick earplugs in her ear just in case.

"Jacob?" Edward asked. "You have a hold on her?"

"Absolutely." I leaned down to whisper in her ear. "I won't let you fall. I swear."

She pressed her face into my chest and breathed in deep. "I know," she whispered back.

"Nessie," Edward called. When she looked over at her father, he said, "Her name is Jane. Do you remember her?"

**RPOV**

Jacob's arms tightened around me as if expecting me to go into convulsions, which might be accurate. Everyone was staring at me worriedly, even Caden. Though his expression was mixed with resolve and a belief in me that was so solid I could feel it. Mom came in to stand in the warmth of Dad's arms.

Jane. I remembered her from back when the Volturi had come that last time. She had scared me the most, as had the blond Caius. The two had looked at my family with such violence that had they had the power to kill with a look, we'd all have dropped where we'd stood and been set on fire in time for them to be back in Italy before our ashes stopped smoking.

With those memories though, I focused on her face. Dark red eyes that were sharp and quick. Blonde hair was nearly as pale as her snow-white skin. And as I watched her lips form the word "pain", I saw that face in a completely different setting.

Instantly, I flashed back to the cabin that night. I was sitting in the chair when she'd turned that gaze on Caden, who had been chained and hung from a rafter. He'd screamed through the gag. In my mind, I watched as she'd turned to me.

And the pain that shot through me in the here and now was not just Pain but **PAIN**. My mind scrambled, placing her face in all the shadows that had taken residence in my mind. The agony was so intense, however, that there was no screaming to be had. My lungs stopped working as my body went into a fit of complete paralysis.

It felt as though my body was still, but on the inside? I was screaming my head off, banging around inside the bars my body created. I was stuck inside myself as the vision of Jane warped and fitted herself into all the nooks and crannies that she'd cut herself out of.

And then, I saw the girl. Abigail. That's what Jane had called her. She'd been the one to do the erasing though she hadn't wanted to. _I'm sorry,_ she'd mouthed at me before cleaning herself and Jane from my memory. Although given that she was gifted, she could have been a lot more thorough. I'd make a solid bet that she'd only partially erased the vampires, making it so that my and Caden's minds would cough them back up eventually, like now.

When all of the replacing was done, all I could do was let my knees go weak. As promised, Jacob caught me and held me to him. And I heard the strangest sound. It sounded like sandpaper on wood. Wondering who the hell was doing woodworking at a time like this, I looked up and around. Everyone was staring at me, and that's when I realized that the sound was coming from me. It was air rushing down into my lungs and then back out. In and out, in and out.

Jacob's eyes were worried, but more than that they were scared and agony made them water while he swallowed hard. A peek into my mind let me know that my mental block had crashed into rubble at the invasion. He'd witnessed and felt everything I had. It was amazing that he was still on his feet.

He let the tears fall down his cheeks.

**JPOV**

I was vaguely aware that I was crying. But I didn't care. Just looking through Nessie's mind at what had happened to her, my heart broke into a thousand pieces. That bitch had used her ability on my mate, causing her pain. And then Caden while he'd been strung up like a side of beef.

I wanted to rip that bitch apart, but at the moment, I couldn't muster the fury. Instead, I just wanted to go lie down in our bed with my female tucked into my side, blankets cocooning us in together for a few days. I wanted to love her with everything I had just to even try to erase that pain.

And at the same time, I wanted to race to the bathroom and throw up the breakfast she'd made.

Sure, we'd been through the whole thing where she told me that it had been her fault for not going on with Seth, and that I'd had to take care of Jordan's body that night, but still. It was my job as her male to protect her. As soon as Seth had gotten there to that clearing, I should have checked on her, but I hadn't. And right then, I knew I'd never forgive myself for that.

Slowly, Nessie brought a shaking hand up to my face to stroke the tears off my cheek. "It's ok, Jake. I'm ok," she whispered. Her voice sounded as if she'd been screaming at the top of her lungs for hours. It was rough and broken, shaky just like those gentle hands.

"Jacob," Edward called from across the room.

It felt like a sin to move my eyes away from Nessie, so it took me a minute to get the strength to look up at her father.

He motioned with his head to the room next door, Seth's old room. "Go next door. We turned it into a recovery room. There's a king-sized bed in there."

"Dad, I'll be fine. I just need a moment."

He shook his head, but another voice came through first.

"Don't you dare be stupid, Nessie. Go lie down."

I managed to turn with her in my arms so that we could see the doorway. Shelby and Seth were standing there, arms wrapped around each other. Both had worried looks on their faces. The worry turned to fear, though, when Shelby caught sight of our faces. Clearly, we looked like we were death warmed over. It's good to know that I looked as bad as I felt.

"I need to hunt," Nessie barely managed to whisper.

Shelby shook her head, her eyes watering as she clung to her mate. "Hunt later. Please, Nessie."

"Ness." Caden's familiar, and strangely comforting, accent was back in full swing.

Nessie gripped my arms before she managed to balance some of her weight onto her own legs. Not much, but enough to get some leverage to turn a little to see the wolf in the bed.

"Listen to them. You've just had a major shock to your system. Once you have a lie-down in the arms of your mate, you'll feel better." He looked over to flash a smile at Leah. "I know I do. And frankly, you look as dead as I felt fifteen minutes ago."

Chocolate brown eyes stared at him. If there was anyone in this room that she would listen to right now, it would be him. He was in the exact same position she was: his memories had been jacked with, his brain stirred around with a spoon labeled under "pain", and now, he'd been force-fed reality by one name. Only he knew exactly how she was feeling. Even I didn't after sharing her thoughts. The version I'd gotten had been muffled.

Those deep eyes traveled around the room, landing on each of her relatives. Last, they landed on her parents, and an aching sadness hit her hard. And that was when I realized that I had taken up so much of her time that she hadn't really gotten to spend any with them. She might have been my woman, but she was still their little girl, their life-altering miracle.

Edward gave me a pair of dark eyes. He needed to hunt as well. But they were also dark with emotion. Like me, rage boiled in him at what had happened to his little girl. Nessie was the only child that would ever happen to him and Bella. Hell, she was the only child to happen to the Cullen clan. She was utterly precious.

He swallowed hard. "It's ok, Jacob. We understand."

I shook my head as I pulled her closer to me. What I needed to say really didn't need to be said out loud, so I just had to think at him.

_It's really not, Edward. It's not ok. From the moment I imprinted on her, I'd taken up her time. Everywhere she'd gone, I'd followed. We'll fix that. She'll spend way more time with you. She's your little girl. You and I both know that we barely won that tiff with Volturi all those years ago, and now I've taken your time from the three of you. Not anymore. I can't be the only man in her life._

Ok, so it might have looked like we were just staring at each other, but the moment Edward nodded, Bella looked from one to the other of us.

"Whatever it is, Jake, we're all going to be ok."

I looked at her. Really looked at her for the first time in years. She was still the woman that I'd crushed on, but now, she was just a really good friend. I'd barely spent any time with her after Nessie was born. She and Edward had gone off while Rosalie and I had fought over whose arms Nessie got to sleep in. Not to say that they hadn't spent time with their daughter. They had, but not much now that she was grown.

But Bella and I were going to become family according to the human world. She was going to be my mother-in-law, but that didn't mean we couldn't be friends. We used to hike, ride motorcycles, and crawl around bonfires on the rez.

When had all that changed?

"Go," Bella said. She hugged her husband hard. "Take care of her. We'll be in later to check on you both."

We stared at each other for a couple heartbeats before I nodded, swung Nessie's legs up into the crook of my arm, and went for the door. Everybody parted to let me through; Shelby stroked Nessie's hair before rushing over to open the door to her old bedroom.

Brushing past her, I went for the king-sized bed that had been moved in. It had the same kind of equipment surrounding it that the hospital bed did but it was more comfortable. A recovery bed as opposed to an emergency bed. Shelby came forward to pull down the blankets. After I tucked my mate onto the mattress, I felt Shelby's hand on my arm to grab my attention.

Turning around, I met a pair of very serious bright green eyes. "Jacob, are you ok?" she whispered.

Shrugging her off was my first instinct, but she was genuinely concerned for us, for me. And she was, for all intents and purposes, she was my sister. Shelby and I hadn't really been tight from the get-go, but looking at her now, I figured today was a day for revelations. Though she could be a pain in the ass and nosy as all get-out, she did it only because she cared. Her dominance came from years of being hated by her own father, making her her own person who wouldn't take shit from anyone now.

Taking a deep breath, I hugged her. She embraced me back, squeezing. "Yeah, Shelbs. I'm good. I'm just…"

Her small hands stroked my back in those useless little circles. They did nothing to change what was happening, but those circles let you know that you weren't alone, that someone was there to catch you if you stumbled, if you could no longer be the strong person you had been only because you needed a chance to be emotional for just a moment in all the chaos.

"I know, Jake. I know. We'll figure this out. You don't have to be the only one to protect her. She's important to all of us." She pulled back to search my face. "You're as tired as she is. Lie down with her. Bella and I will be back to check on you later."

I gave her the best smile I could muster. "Thanks. We'll probably be asleep. Just the muffled images I got exhausted me."

Shelby's green eyes went to the bed and she smiled. "Looks like it. Nessie's out cold."

Looking over my shoulder, I saw that she was right. Nessie was sprawled out on the bed. As we watched her, she curled into a ball with a frown.

"Looks like she's cold, too," Shelby whispered with a suggestion in her tone.

Nodding, I disengaged from her to walk around to the other side of the bed. She watched as I slid into the bed fully clothed and spooned myself behind my mate. Though my body temp hadn't changed, I felt chilled to the bone, goosebumps popping up on my skin as I sidled up behind her. Once she was firmly in my arms, her body uncurled as she pressed back against me.

As if my body realized that we were now in a position to pass out, my eyelids became heavy as a four hundred pound weight. Before they slammed shut for good, I caught Shelby's form moving around to shut the drapes and then go for the door.

My mate sighed, her hands moving up my arms as her body let loose the tension against me.

With the exhaustion on emotions I didn't want to look too closely at, I feel asleep with the intense feeling that this time, it was Nessie protecting me.

* * *

**Ok, so not much to say now. But I will go further into how Jacob was feeling in this last sentence in the next chapter. Some of you are probably pulling the head-to-the-side doggy-question "huh" look. But never fear, I'll let ya know. Luv you guys! xoxoxoxoxo**


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16 is finally here. Sorry it keeps taking me so long to update this time around. I just have so many ideas for this story and the next one. Possibly a fourth. Heck if I know. But I am also working on other things. Other fanfics and some original stories. But anywhozzle, here it is! :)**

***Disclaimer***

**Please Enjoy!**

* * *

**ShelbyPOV**

Shutting the door quietly behind me, I let my breath leave just as silently. Seth was standing across the hall, eyes sad and worried.

"How are they?" he asked in a whisper.

I shook my head and went into his open arms to cuddle against his big body. "He's raw. He'd never admit it, but he is."

Seth's hands moved slowly up and down my back. "Of course he is. Nessie was clearly projecting. Her mental block couldn't have withheld against all that. Jacob saw and felt firsthand a fraction of what she had. When she and Caden had done their run-through of what had happened, Jake had been wicked vicious. But this time? He experienced it. Any male's female going through something like that is likely to raise his hackles. If it doesn't then there's something wrong with that relationship."

"And we all know there's nothing wrong with theirs."

"Absolutely."

"God, Seth, what the hell is going on? Our closest friends and leaders are being fucked with. I can't lose her."

Seth's arms tightened around me, pulling me close. "I know, baby. I can't lose either one of them. I mean, I know I can take care of stuff for Jake for a couple days or so, but I can't just completely take over like he does. Not to mention, I don't even know who the Alpha position would pick to go to. It's kind of like the imprint. It chooses, not us."

"Which is a good thing, but I see your point."

Both of us would be lost if something happened to Nessie and Jacob. Not to mention the pack would be lost without its rightful leader and his mate. No other wolves in the pack could care for us, but none of them could be Jake and Nessie.

"Come on. Why don't we go downstairs and I'll make you something to eat. It's been a rough day already."

"Amen to that," I said, patting my gurgling stomach. "I could go for a sandwich."

As I let him lead me down the stairs, I thought about what was under my hands. I couldn't see the difference, but Seth swore up and down that he could see the subtle swelling when I stripped at the end of the day. And yes, it scared me, but one look at his glowing face erased that fear. He was so excited and happy that I couldn't hold onto any negative emotions around him when he looked at me like that. He'd also been badgering me to go see his mother. Apparently she was getting antsy.

Sighing, I wished that things were easy, that we'd have our happily ever after. Surely nobody in this family had gathered this much bad karma in their life to justify the shitstorm we'd been having lately.

The moment my feet hit the hardwood floor, the front door opened up. Morgan came through first followed closely by a very large and tall shadow. At first I thought it was Jacob, but then my memory reminded me that he was upstairs passed out around his mate. It had to be-

"Lucas, how'd everything go?" Seth asked as he subtly moved in front of me, blocking my view of the newest member of the pack.

"He's fine, Seth," Morgan said. "We practiced phasing in and out. And I made sure he had his temper under control before bringing him here."

Peering around Seth's shoulder, I placed a hand on his arm and stepped around him. He didn't like it but allowed me to stand beside him. Lucas closed the door behind him and took a look around. He'd probably heard the stories about the house, but he'd never been in here. He hadn't been privy to any of the info about the Cullens. Now, he had insider access, a pass, if you will, for both the rez and Forks. A low whistle left his pursed lips.

"Wow, this place is awesome." He frowned, putting his hands on his hips. "What's that sound?"

"What sound?" Morgan asked.

Lucas frowned harder to listen. "It sounds like…a fluttering? A bird, maybe?"

That made me laugh. "That's probably me."

Morgan laughed, making Lucas stare at her. Hell, all three of us stared. Normally her laugh was like steeping on broken glass, hard on the ears. But this one was a true laugh, like she found joy in what was being said. But I what made me pause was Lucas, the way he looked at her. It was more than the imprint. He was in love with her and still learning her moods. They'd mated, that was for sure. Their scents were flaring and mingling the way that Jake's and Nessie's scents did. The same was for all the other couples in the big family.

Morgan realized we were staring and tried to hide her smile, unsuccessfully. It turned into a grin with a few giggles. She actually giggled.

"Sorry. It's really not that funny."

"What isn't?" her mate asked.

Morgan looked at me for the first time with warmth. True, feminine warmth. "A baby's heartbeat."

Pleasant surprise shot across his features as he turned to look at me and Seth. "A baby?"

I nodded and patted my growing tummy. "Yep. That's what you're hearing, the heartbeat. Everyone else can hear it but me. I just come up with my own."

"Wow, that's great, you guys. The two of you are going to be great parents."

"You think?" I asked.

"No question to it. You're going to be amazing." He stepped up close as if he wanted to give me a hug.

With a glance at Morgan and Seth, I shrugged and went into his arms. I didn't know him really except for the times I was with Seth and Jake at the shop and Lucas would come by to say hi. He was good kid as far as I knew. Hell, we were the same age. I just felt so much older than him, like I'd been through more and he was still wet behind the ears.

"Congrats, Shelby, really," he said in a low voice. "You're going to be the coolest mom. I can almost guarantee it."

"Yeah?" I pulled back a little so I could see his face. "How?"

He shrugged with his arms still around me. "You've only met me a handful of times and already hug me like I'm family. As soon as that baby is in your arms, you'll be the cool yet protective mother that every kid wants."

I wasn't sure what made me tell him what I did next, but I said, "My mother left me and my dad when I was ten."

He shrugged again. "And? That was her. You're you. I fail to see a similarity."

I grinned and my eyes watered. "Do you have any faults at all?"

He opened his mouth to say something but Morgan beat him to it. "None that I can find…yet," she said in a grumpy tone.

Again, I was startled when Lucas pulled back and Morgan took his place, wrapping her arms around my shoulders, pulling me into her body.

"He's right, though. You and Seth are perfect. And I'm sorry if I've ever been cold toward you."

Pulling back, I saw that her eyes were watering. She swiped at the tears. "Sorry. Love brings out my inner girl."

We laughed at the same time.

"Trust me, I know what that's like." Playfully, I knocked my shoulder into hers. "Love after a week, huh?"

She shrugged. "Imprinting sucks."

"Tell me about it."

"Ok, ok, stop with the girl talk," Seth said, cutting between us. He playfully pulled me away from Morgan. Lucas came up behind his mate and wrapped her in his arms. The kid really was almost as big as Jake. "But really, Morgan, it's good to see a little warmth."

She grimaced. "Blame him."

I patted Seth's arm. "Clearly it's situational."

"You got that right," Morgan huffed, crossing her arms over her stomach.

The three of us around her laughed.

"So, where's Jacob? And everybody else?"

Seth and I shared a look. "A lot has happened, Morgan. You might need to catch Lucas up."

"Oh, I did that on the way here. He knows everything I do."

Seth's eyebrows shot up. But then he nodded. "Ok, well, we figured out the mess with Caden's and Nessie's memories." When Morgan gave him a _go-ahead_ bug-eyed look, he continued, "It was the Volturi all along." Morgan and Lucas let loose vicious growls. Growls that Seth had to talk over. "Jane and one other, one that has the gift of erasing memories. They erased themselves from Nessie's and Caden's memories but left the wolves. And Caden figured out the scent at the sites of the killings. Her name is Nyla."

"Why is her scent different from the others?" Morgan demanded.

"Apparently when you're born to two lycanthropes, the disease scent isn't as prominent."

Morgan wrenched herself out of Lucas's arms so that she could pace. "Great. So they're back. Are we going to go back to personal guards?"

"Adam and I are sticking to Nessie whether Jake likes it or not," a voice came from the direction of the stairs.

We all turned to find Derek and Adam walking toward us. Though they were the only gay couple in the pack, they didn't show it much except for the way they looked at each other. Both of them were men's men, but just happened to be in love with each other. And we all accepted that. Half of us were convinced that they'd imprinted on each other, especially the wolves of the rez because of the thought-sharing process.

Out of the two, Derek was the wet dream, all broad and t-shirt straining muscle. Adam was more like the swimmer or basketball player, lean muscle. And even though the two of them had black hair, Adam's seemed to be a shade darker, adding purple and blue highlights in the right light and was cut short in the back and long on top, slashing across his forehead. Derek's was full of brown and auburn highlights, and a shaggy mop.

Though Derek had the brawn, Adam was the scarier of the two, the more dominant. And he was very protective of his mate. Not to say that Derek was weak or soft. He wasn't. But whereas Derek would just brush off nasty curses from gay-haters, Adam would more than likely rip the haters apart…with his teeth.

"He's right," Adam said. "Now that Jacob and Nessie are a complete mated couple, she's our official alpha female. We're taking it upon ourselves to appoint ourselves her guards."

"Well," Derek added. "Both of them, but to Jake, just her. He'll take a hit to his ego if we tell him we're watching him like hawks as well."

Seth nodded. "That's a good idea." He turned to the newer couple. "Morgan, Lucas, you guys think you can handle Claire?"

"Absolutely," Lucas said. "What about Sam and Emily?"

"Christa and Jared." He looked pointedly at Morgan. "I know you and Christa have your issues, but this isn't a time for that kind of drama."

Morgan nodded. "Roger that. She and I have shit to work on, but we know how to take care of business first. Don't you worry."

"Good. Quil and I will be on my mom and Charlie."

Oh, god. Panic rushed through me. Our little slice of bliss was over. It was time for Seth to go back to work protecting Forks and the rez, which meant he had to put himself in danger. My hand went to my stomach and I prayed like I never had before that whatever good karma I had went to Seth and our unborn child.

"Shelbs? You ok?"

Opening my eyes, I found that the room was empty except for me and Seth. Grasping for his hand, I gripped it so hard that had he been human, I'd have broken it.

"Can I be honest?"

"I prefer it."

"I'm terrified."

**SethPOV**

Hearing Shelby tell me she was scared made the male protector in me puff out as I took her into my arms. "It's ok, Shelby. I'll be as careful as I can." Stroking her hair, I rocked her back and forth as she wrapped her arms around me and held on with every ounce of strength she had.

I could promise her all day long that everything would be ok, but the reality crushed us down. Before all of this was over and we came out the other side, one or the other of us could very well not make it. I wasn't so naïve as to think that after the baby was born, she wouldn't want to fight. Hell, something could still happen to her before the birth. I'd lose them both. Not to mention that something could happen to me, leaving my family behind to lean on our extended families to keep them up.

Both of those thoughts scared the shit out of me. But I couldn't just lock us away in the cabin and leave all of my responsibilities to the pack, throwing all of that on Jacob, who also will have to face the possibility of death or of losing his mate, or both. And with Nessie being who she was, she'd want to stand next to Jacob on the frontline, facing whatever was coming for us.

"Seth?" Shelby lifted her head so that she could look me in the eye.

"Yeah, sweetie?"

"I love you. I know that sometimes I can be a bitch. And that you don't believe that I'm happy about the baby. God knows that I don't act like it. But I am. I'm very happy to have a piece of both of us growing inside of me. It's the most amazing feeling to know that my body is both a sanctuary and protection. I'm just scared of doing this without you."

When I opened my mouth to say something, anything, she shook her head.

"No, I need to say this. Please." I nodded and let her talk. "When I first had the feeling that I was pregnant, I told myself and Nessie, that if anything happened to you that I wouldn't want to live, not even for the baby. But I was wrong. I am already so in love with this child that I'm scared to even move wrong so that I don't lose it. I couldn't bear that." She smoothed her palm up my chest and stared at my neck. "You are my world, my life. You changed the way I saw everything. And I want so badly to ask you not to go out there and risk not coming home to me. But I can't do that. I love you, and that means that I love who you are. Protecting the pack and your home, and me, is part of who you are. I just wanted you to know that even though I don't like it, you are the father of my child and he's going to need a good, brave man to look up to. His father, even if you might not be there to watch him grow up."

After all of that, there was just one thing I could think to say. "He?"

That made her laugh and the tears that were unshed in her eyes fell down her cheeks. "Mother's intuition, I guess. I just feel like it's going to be a boy."

Tightening my arms around her, I leaned down to kiss the tears away. "Shelby, I can't promise that we're all going to come out on the other end of this, but I can damn sure promise you that I will fight come home to you every night. And as for the baby, whether we have a son or a daughter, whether I'm physically here or not, I will _always_ be with him or her. His or her mother would never allow him or her to grow up without knowing who I am or was. I know you, Shelby. You'd never allow my child to not know me. You'd make sure that he knew that I didn't just up and leave you, that I fought my hardest to get back to you. And I will fight with everything inside of me, every last ounce of strength. Nothing of me will be left unused to get back into your arms. Do you understand me?"

She'd started crying in earnest, the tears rushing up and bubbling over. Her hands had fisted themselves in my shirt, fingers clawing at me. Nodding frantically, she buried her face in my chest and wept.

"Everything ok?" a soft voice asked.

Opening my eyes, I found Jasper at the end of the stairs. His expression was that of empathy as he looked at Shelby.

"Could you work some of your magic?"

I didn't have to ask twice. Immediately, a wave of calm blanketed us. Her sobs started to die down into hiccups and her body released its tension making her fall against me. I caught her, swinging her up into my arms.

"Thanks, Jasper."

"Take her home and love her. Even with my wife able to see the future, we are all so very blind right now. And Shelby needs you now more than ever."

I nodded as he went ahead of me to open the front door. "Thank you. Will you-,"

"Absolutely. Now go home."

With that, he solidly shut the door behind me. Looking down, Shelby was tucked against my chest still quietly crying and clutching my shirt. She needed this. Though I loved her strength, she had the tendency to think that strength meant hiding and bottling emotions. Sure, letting it out hurt, but at least she was allowing herself to feel. It always scared me when she tucked herself away. Even with the dormant wolf in her, she was human with human tendencies and emotions, and she needed to feel them. I was scared, too, but my main priority was her. I'd lose it later.

With her in my arms, I scanned the woods as I walked. A crunch behind me brought my head around only to find Embry. Jasper must have sent him out. I was grateful. If something attacked, I'd have to drop Shelby and that I wasn't willing to do.

"Hey, man. Want some company back up?"

"Sure. Thanks."

"Not a problem."

The rest of the trip back up to our new home was passed with me whispering low to Shelby as she continued to cry. When we got up to the cabin, I managed to pull the key out of my pocket. As I went to open the door, Embry reached up to take the key from me so that I wouldn't have to juggle Shelby. After he unlocked and opened the door, I expected him to come in after me. Instead he just started to close the door and kept my key.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

Embry looked down at the key in his hand. "Well I expect you to lock this door, which means that if you need something, I'm going to need to get in here, hence me keeping the key."

"Embry, you can't mean that you're going to stay outside-,"

He cut me off. "Look, you didn't assign yourself or Shelby any guards." He shrugged. "I'll be outside. Take care of your female."

"But-,"

A finger got shoved in my face. "No 'buts'. Get your ass in there, take her down to your room, and take care of her. You'd do the same for me if I had a woman. You and Jake need down time, too. Sometimes it has to happen at the same time, and that's where the rest of us step in. You forget that the original pack that started with us is closer to a family. We've been together since the beginning of this whole mess. Now, get in there and lock this door."

With a final nod, I kicked the door closed. Shelby reached out to lock it. Once the bolt slid home and the security system beeped, heavy footsteps crossed the wooden porch and down the steps. Embry was probably going to work the patrol routine around the cabin.

"He's sweet. I wonder why he hasn't imprinted. He always went to those meet-n-greets," Shelby said.

It was a valid question. Embry wasn't desperate for a mate but he always went because girls were always asking him out. He just didn't want to get involved with someone and imprint on someone else. Nobody needed a repeat of the whole Sam-Emily-Leah thing going on. And as much as Embry liked to joke around and be a typical guy, he didn't want to hurt anyone, to leave some poor girl with a broken heart while he lived in bliss with his imprint. So we all left him alone in the joke department. In return, he looked after the imprints, male and female.

"I don't know. Maybe she's an outsider. Hopefully, they'll meet up someday."

"Hopefully."

Standing in the middle of the spacious living room with her in my arms, the house was silent, except for the ticking of a clock in the kitchen.

"Seth?"

"Yeah, baby."

"Let's go to our room."

When I looked down at her, I knew there was another meaning in her words. She wanted me to take her to bed. She wanted me to make love to her, to help her forget, just for the rest of today and tonight, that we were surrounded my danger.

"Shelby-,"

"Please, Seth. Just make love to me. Soft. Gentle. That's what I want. No games or playing around. I want my mate to make love to me."

The pull of the imprint tugged at me. There was no way I could deny her anything. Sure, we'd fight about things, but in the end, even with negotiations, she always won.

Sighing, I leaned down to press a kiss to her forehead. "Ok, baby. Let's go downstairs."

Her sigh of "thank you" was the best reward ever.

**RPOV**

Waking up in Jacob's arms confused me a little. Disoriented was a good word for how I felt as I looked around the room that used to be Seth and Shelby's. Looking over my and Jacob's shoulders, I saw between the part in the curtains that night had fallen. We'd been out for hours.

Jacob was still out cold, snoring softly into my hair. Watching him sleep, I thought back to the last thing I remembered. We'd been next door with Caden in the hospital bed. Images played through my head of a red-eyed blonde nightmare causing pain and fear.

Jane.

She'd been behind this crap. Her and the other pack. How the hell was this happening? Had Aro or Caius sent her, them?

From downstairs, the piano sent soothing notes up through the stairs and the hallway. Jacob's song. Dad had written it back when Jacob had had to leave me to go north to make those useless negotiations. It was to let me know that he'd missed Jacob, too.

Gently, I wriggled my way out from underneath Jacob. He reached for me but I hopped out of the way so that he landed face-first into the pillow. With it being the pillow that I had been sleeping on, he buried his nose in it and pulled into his chest. Smiling, I leaned down to press a kiss to his temple. God, I loved him.

Quietly, I made my way out of the room and down the hall. Jacob's snores got louder and louder as if his body knew that it could be loud now that someone else wasn't next to him trying to sleep.

I found Dad sitting at the piano with a soft smile on his face. Sitting next to him, I rested my head on his shoulder as he played, the way I used to do back when I'd suddenly grown up.

_I love you, Daddy._ Since Jacob had told me that he hated it when I blocked him, I decided to keep it down unless it was necessary, so Dad was able to hear me.

He leaned over without missing a beat to kiss my hair. "Love you, too, sweetheart. How are you feeling?"

"Like I've been violated," I said honestly.

"I'm sorry, Renesmee. Carlisle wants to call Aro and talk with him."

I sat up to stare at him. "No! You can't. She isn't here. Right now it's that other pack."

"Nessie, if Caius planned behind Aro's back, he needs to know."

"Dad, listen to me. Jane is one of Aro's prized possessions. We need proof first."

He stopped playing and turned to me. "The proof is in your and Caden's minds, your memories."

I shook my head. "No, it's not us. We need proof from somewhere else."

I didn't need to say anything else. He saw the thoughts in my head, thoughts of travelling over to Europe to gather witnesses, but not of the vampire kind. We needed witnesses of the lycanthrope kind.

He shook his head. "No, Nessie. I won't let you go over there. And don't argue with me. I am still your father, and I know the dangers a lot better than you do. Caden is a good man, a good wolf, but Tristan is just the tip of the iceberg. There are worse animals out there, soulless beasts that would rip you apart."

"Not if one of their kind was with her," a British accent said from the doorway.

Dad turned to reveal Caden. The man looked terrible, but better than he had when I'd seen him in that bed. His dirty blond hair was dark brown, still wet from the shower. Dressed in sweats and nothing else, his skin was golden brown over smooth, lean muscle. Scars, both light and deep, crisscrossed over his chest and stomach. He looked like he still needed rest and a lot of food. But those amber eyes were focused and dead serious.

Dad shook his head. "No. My daughter is not going over there."

"But she's right. Witnesses of the Volturi's crimes would help build the case."

"You know," a very different voice drawled from behind me in the doorway to the kitchen. "This is starting to sound a lot like what happened after Nessie was born."

Turning, I found Paul leaning against the jamb.

"Hey, Paul," I greeted him smiling. "Long time, no see."

"Amen to that." He nodded toward me. "How're you feeling?"

I lifted one shoulder in a half shrug. "Ok, I guess. Jake's still upstairs, passed out."

He nodded. "I heard about what happened. Look, I agree that witnesses are necessary, but we gotta know if Aro was involved or not."

Dad shook his head. "He wasn't. Alice would have seen it. She's been watching him for years, back around the time that Bella saved me from…" his eyes flicked to me. "From my run-in with them."

_Your suicide_, I said in my head. He flinched. _Sorry._

Paul's eyes flicked between us as if he sensed that we were talking. "Ok, so it wasn't him. The blond was the one that seemed to be the more aggressive of the other two."

"Caius," Dad and I said at the same time.

"Right, him."

"It very well could have been him. In fact," Dad said. "It's my theory that he made plans with Jane long before they came here that first time. They came that day to destroy us. After Alice showed Aro what would happen if he chose to keep that decision, he changed his mind because he knew that he'd have severe casualties, including himself. Aro may care about his fellow rulers, but he's a selfish creature. Caius was furious. He didn't understand the change."

Sliding off the bench, he started pacing.

"Caius and Jane must have had their Plan B ready long before they made the decision to come, though. It must have been a Plan A at some point before Aro had made the decision to come for us. Caius then told Jane to hold back. If the battle did work out, then Jane was free to work her magic. She used Caius's enemy against us, knowing that he couldn't be involved in the planning part. He'd have to be separated from all of that and Quileute wolves had lost the element of surprise."

"Fight fire with fire," Caden said, nodding.

"Exactly. But Nessie's right. No sightings or scents of Jane have been found. There's no proof that she hasn't abandoned the plan of attack. If Aro found out, he may have called her home."

"He has been thinking of Jane lately," Aunt Alice said from behind Paul. He moved to let her through the door. "I doubt he's found anything out, though. Maybe he's just wondering where she is. He's seen Alec but not Jane."

"Of course."

I stood up. "So that means we need to go to Europe."

"No," everyone said collectively.

I just stared.

"Nessie," Caden said. "Edward is right. You going over there is a bad idea."

"But-,"

"Renesmee." Mom's voice was sharp and gentle at the same time. When I turned to look at her, she came forward. "Nessie, you are not going over there. We're all right in this. Please. You might be alpha female here, but this place is friendly. But from what Caden has said about where he comes from, that place is not where I want the most precious thing in my life to end up. If Caden wants to go, then that's his choice. However, nobody in this house is going to let you go over there. You've been through a lot, and it's made you strong, but you're still safe. There, you won't be. And Jacob can't protect you. He's as lost in that world as you would be."

Looking around the room, I found that everyone agreed with her. So I nodded in defeat. It was time to take Jacob's advice. Pick my battles. I'd lost this one. And they were right. I knew nothing about the kind of wolf Caden was. I wanted to know, but not at the cost of Jacob's life for first-hand experience.

"Ok, let's stop on this topic for now. We're all tired and on-edge. And Caden looks like he's about to fall over," I said with a sympathetic smile.

"Speaking of looking like hell-," Paul started.

"I didn't say he looked like hell," I said back at him.

He shrugged. "Same diff. Anyway, why does he look worse than Nessie?"

"Because I had a nastier shock to my system than she did. Nyla's back, which means that the whole pack is back in the area. When Jacob or Seth wakes up, we need them to make an order to up the patrols again. They're sending us messages with those deer. The last time they were here, they nearly killed Nessie three times. They won't just be going after her now. Now, they'll go for whoever gets near them."

"Why us, though?" Paul asked.

"Because they've been brainwashed," Dad said.

Caden shook his head. "Actually that's not true. I've known that lot for years. All of them are pretty much soulless. Here, in America, it's harder for them to be in charge. But where we come from, we outnumber the humans. Tristan is used to being leader and scaring the humans. Here, he's got to be careful. That's why he hasn't done anything to show his sociopathy. Nyla is just as bad. And more than likely, she'll want Nessie more than Tristan will. He'll want me. And more than that, his prize would be Jacob."

"Then I'd give him the fight of his life," Jacob's voice said from behind Caden. We all turned toward him, the authority in his voice drawing all of us. "And that bitch better not touch my mate. Female or not, I'll put her in the ground."

He held his hand out to me in a way that told me he expected me to obey the silent command. The pull of him made my feet move, shuffling over the hardwood floor. Once my hand was in his, he tucked me to his side and brought my fingers to his lips.

"Are you ok?"

I nodded.

"Hungry?"

Again, I nodded.

There was something different about him now. Some hardness was there in his eyes, the way he held himself, the way he held me to him. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but he was different than he had been. A shift in him had taken place.

"Then let's get you fed. That's most important right now." He raised those dark eyes to everyone in the room. "We'll talk about all this later." His stare landed on Caden. "You're right about the patrols. Why don't you take charge of those? You know what to look for in attempts to get past our lines."

Caden nodded. "Of course."

"Good."

For a moment we all stood there. And then Mom went for the kitchen. "Esme and I will get dinner started."

With that, everybody left the room to take care of their own bits of business, leaving me with my male.

**JPOV**

"Jacob?" Nessie said. "Are you ok?"

I sighed. "I'm done, Nessie. I'm done being leader in name. Morgan was right."

"About what?"

"That I've been in pansy-land since you and I got together."

She pulled back as if she were startled. "What are you saying?"

I pulled her over to the bench of the piano. "What I'm saying is that I've been so busy chasing you and getting you between the sheets and my body that I haven't been leading or paying attention to my pack." She tried to pull back again, but I held her to me. "I'm not blaming you for anything. It's all me. I couldn't balance. But I am now. Your memories scared me, Nessie. You are my life, my mate, my wife. I couldn't protect you then, but I will damn sure protect you now. Derek and Adam are back to guarding you. They'll stay in the cabin with us and rotate out with Patrick and Alana. No more chances. All of those that don't fight or run patrols get guards. We have more than enough wolves to get both done. Seth and I will sit down with Caden and Edward to figure things out, to come up with a plan."

For a moment, she just sat there and stared at me. It was easy to understand her confusion. I'd made so many promises to everybody to become the Alpha or her man, and I had yet to make good on those promises. What brought on this change now was waking up without her in my arms. Every day, I was the one who woke up first out of the two of us. Without her there this time, my panic was so complete I'd had problems breathing. Waking up with her in my arms every morning was my way of keeping the proof that this life wasn't a dream, that she was real. My reality could have been taken away from me because I had taken for granted that we would always be together. Her memories and visions from earlier had changed all of that. I'd seen how close she and Caden both had come to being taken away from me and Leah. In one fell swoop, Jane would have taken away the lives of two wolves whose hearts would have still beat with a broken rhythm.

I fully expected Nessie to be angry with me for what I'd said because it had sounded like I was blaming her. But I wasn't. I was just being honest with her the way she'd made me promise. And it was time that I become my own person again, not who she expected me to be. I had decisions to make and sometimes those decisions had to be voiced as bluntly as possible.

And of course, she surprised the hell out of me by squeezing my hand and meeting me in the eye. "Fine. Then I want to be in those meetings. I am alpha female of this pack, and I have to be strong. As strong as my mate."

"Absolutely. I can't do this without you."

"You'll never have to. All you have to do is ask."

Leaning in, I planted a kiss to her lips that she returned. Then we just sat back and stared at each other, her fingers playing over the ring that she'd given me. After however many minutes had passed, Bella poked her head into the room to tell us that dinner was ready.

It wasn't until I sat down at the table that I realized Seth and Shelby weren't here. Usually they stuck around to make sure that we were ok when one or the other of us went into crisis mode.

"They went back up to their cabin," Edward said. "They had a moment and needed some time together. Embry's with them."

"Another wolf needs to be up there," I said reaching for my phone.

Emmett came in from the living room. "I need a good run. I'll go up there."

"Thanks, man." We bumped knuckles just before he took off out the kitchen door. I turned to Nessie. "When we're done, you wanna head up to the house?"

She nodded, eyes not meeting mine like she didn't know if she was allowed to. Pressing my finger under her shin, I lifted her face so that her eyes met mine.

"I'm no different, Ness. It's just me." I gave her the most Jacob-y grin I could find and shoved a forkful of food into my mouth.

She giggled and tried to hide it. "Yes, you silly dog. I wanna go home."

I grinned again with my cheeks stuffed, making me look like a squirrel.

"Good. I'll pack up the leftovers for you two to take back," Esme said through her own laugh and head shake. "I swear, the two of you are so cute it should be a crime."

"I know, right?" I said still staring at my mate.

**SethPOV**

Shelby met me upstairs in the kitchen after she got out of her bath. I smelled her before I saw her. She smelled like lemon and ginger. It was a nice clean scent. I pictured her in her pajamas, her hair spiky from being towel-dried.

But what I got when I turned around was a whole lot of wet skin and puffy lips. I nearly dropped the glass I was holding.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

For a moment I just stared at her stupidly, but then I remembered the glass that I had just nearly dropped but had managed to hold on to. I cleared my throat. "Uh, needed some water. You ok?"

She nodded. "Yeah. You coming back to bed?"

"Absolutely." Quickly chugging the water down, I wrapped my arms around her waist, picking her up off the floor and went for the stairs.

Once we were down into the bedroom, I gently laid her on the mussed bed. Stepping back, I just had to stare at her. Her lips were puffy from…certain activities. Breasts were heavy and warm, heavier than they had been due to the pregnancy. And though she couldn't see it yet, there was a slight bump to her stomach. What surprised me was that her core was swollen and glistening even though I'd just made love to her not twenty minutes ago.

She held her arms out to me. "I want you, Seth."

"You just had me…three times."

She blushed. "Oh, right. Um, well, I guess we can go to sleep, then. You must be tired."

Leaning over, I placed my hand on her cheek. She spread her legs so that I could stand between them. "It's not that I don't want to, Shelby. I'm just worried about the baby. Two months isn't that far along."

"You've been gentle with me all night, Seth. Just once more. Please. And then we can sleep."

She was right. Tonight, we'd been gentle. Instead of crashing thunder for orgasms, we'd been more like coasting waves on the beach with them gently rolling over us. No hard thrusting or vigorous movement. In fact, she'd stayed beneath me all night.

"Ok, but this time, you're on top. I want to watch you."

Her grin was radiant. "Deal."

Using my hand on her face as leverage, she pulled me down beside her so that she could fling a leg over my hip and roll us. The only article of clothing I had on was a towel from my shower. She made quick work of it, throwing it in the direction of the hamper.

She was slow in her attention to me, lips roaming over mine and my skin. But she was also in no mood for foreplay. It wasn't that she just wanted the sex and be done. She was after the closeness. Shelby always hated to separate when we finished because she liked the feel of the connectedness. Her hands roamed down my chest and stomach to find the hard length of me that was resting on my lower stomach. Reaching under herself, she used her wetness on my shaft to get me ready to enter her. Though she was wet, the feeling of entering her dry always felt like sandpaper.

A few soft but firm strokes, she was satisfied with her work. I knew this because her goal was always to get me to press my head back into the pillow and grip the sheets. I also knew she was ready because her weight came up off my pelvis just long enough for her to stand me up and slide her body over me.

The feel of her body like this was always sharp and deep, which caused a momentary panic for me. What if I went too deep inside of her and caused problems?

"Seth, baby, it's ok. The baby's fine. This is ok for now. We just can't let it get too vigorous."

Opening my eyes I found that she was smiling at me. "How'd you know what I was thinking?"

Leaning down over my mouth, she whispered, "Because it's you. You always worry about things like that. But I'm telling you that it's ok."

When I didn't argue, just pressed my lips to hers, she started to move. Which was pure heaven. We fit together perfectly, her body arching, rising, and falling in all of the right places to meet all my dips and valleys. As she moved, her newly heavy breasts swayed right along with her hips. But I knew I couldn't be rough. She was sensitive there for now.

Gently, I sat up so that I could capture one of her darkened nipples, lapping at it reverently as she married our bodies completely, dancing sensuously above me. But watching her move without being able to touch her was not going to work this time. I loved when she was on top of me, dominating me. She showed me that I belonged to her, which was hot as hell.

As she picked up her rhythm, my hands snaked back so that I could grip her ass, and eventually, I was the one making her dance. Kneading with my fingers, she moved and arched into the feeling until her upper body collapsed on top of mine. That was fine. I was willing to do the rest of the work.

"Oh, god, Seth. Please."

Planting my heels on the bed, I gripped her ass, dipped my hips down and then forced the two to meet. Pushing down on her body and up with my hips, I joined us, going in to the hilt of me. She gasped, digging her nails into my skin.

I had to control myself to that I didn't get too rough with her, but a subtle slapping of skin on skin was still audible as I took us both higher. She was hot, wet, and slick as she slid over me. Her core gripping me as she slid further and further into the land of orgasms and dark chasms of lust and power.

We came at the same time with me pulling out to come on her thighs so that I didn't pull one of those orgasmic hard thrusts and hurt her. She gasped my name as she came, her nails digging into me. I gritted my teeth against the pressure. This wasn't the same as coming inside of her, but it was the best I could do for now.

Once we were both wrung out, I scooted us back onto the bed, pulling the blankets with me. Though I was seriously sensitive, I made sure to sink back into the sheath of her body so that she could have me as close as possible. She was terrified that she was going to lose me, and if she wanted me close tonight, then close was what she would get.

"Seth?"

"Hmm?"

"Thank you. Thank you so much for everything you've ever done or given me. I will owe you for the rest of my life."

Stroking my hands up her back, I kissed her hair. "Just stay with me, Shelby. That's all I want. Just stay here. With us."

Sighing, she snuggled lower down on my chest and under the blankets.

"Always, Seth. I will always stay with you, both of you."

Sleep sucked us both down soon thereafter. No doubt our dreams were full of our baby that was currently cocooned safely between us.

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**So? Yeah I know, not much of a lemon for these two at the end, but to be honest, I just don't know how pregnancy sex goes. Never been pregnant. However, I am rather pleased with the two of them, so please nobody give me details about something like that lol. And of course, Seth is always the worrier. He'd rather be cautious with something like that. Anyway, love you guys. Hopefully the next update with present itself faster. xoxoxoxoxo**


	17. Chapter 17

***Skids into room* Hey, guys! Guess what? I'm finally back with chapter 17. I know, I know. I've been gone for a while, but I have also been trying to answer some of the questions from your reviews. If you had a super important question that you just couldn't live without the answer to and I didn't get to you, don't hesitate to ask me again. Now, this chapter will answer the one question that I've been getting the most of: what are the Children of the Moon like? And what about Shelby's pregnancy with the shifting? Nailed it...I hope. If not, please ask.**

**Ok, enough rambling.**

***Disclaimer here***

**Please Enjoy!**

* * *

**RPOV**

The next morning, I woke to the sound of Jacob building up the fire in our bedroom fireplace. Stretching out all the kinks Jacob had worked into my body last night, I rolled over onto his side of the bed to watch him. The orange glow of the fire danced over his skin, bringing out the orange and red undertones of the russet. Though he was an aggressive, dominant male, he was utterly beautiful. I grinned at the thought of what he would say if I told him that.

His voice, when it came, made me jump. "Your mom used to say that to me all the time."

Swallowing my heart back into my chest, I asked, "Say what?"

He turned on the balls of his feet with a grin. "That I was beautiful." Those broad shoulders lifted in a shrug. "You projected. Sorry."

Shaking my head, I smiled at him. "It's ok. I'm just not used to letting it all out. I don't know how Dad deals with his gift."

Jacob chuckled. "Oh, he enjoys it, I'm sure. Unless _we're_ around him."

"Wh-oh," I said when he looked back at me with mischievous grin. The blush couldn't be helped.

When he chuckled again and went back to tending the fire, I just stared at him still wondering what had brought on the change in him. What had brought out the raw maleness of him? Last night, when he'd taken over the conversation and effectively ended it, telling everyone where we stood and what ways we were going to move forward with a defense plan, nobody had questioned him, just did as he said, even Caden who was more than able to be Alpha of his own pack. And when we'd gotten back to the cabin? He'd taken charge of how we'd ended up in bed. No hesitations, no _are-you-ok_s or _I'm sorry_s. Just him leading me to the stairs that led to our room. Instead of letting me walk down however, he'd turned me around, captured my lips and pulled me roughly into his arms with his hands firmly on my thighs. From there, he'd put me where he'd wanted me as we made love. Tried new positions. Positions that left him in complete control and me at his mercy.

At first, it had been as it always was with us: fast and hard. And I'd realized that that was how it was always going to be with us. We were the ultimate dominant couple, the Alpha couple, and Jacob had embraced that wild side of him. That had been clear last night. Our fast and furious rushes at the beginning were our way of reigniting the mark between us, claiming the other by marrying our bodies rough and wild.

After that initial wave had crashed over us and passed, he'd made love to me slowly, taking his time so that the orgasms were slow but powerful. He wouldn't let me have an ounce of control over him, and his point was clear. He was taking me the way a man should take his woman: with power and knowledge of her so she didn't have to tell him. Jacob asserted his dominance over me in one glorious night, letting me know that though I was also an alpha, he was the king. Kings ruled even over their queens. My advice and suggestions were welcome, but in the end, the decision was his.

Though I knew we were both equal in the relationship, I realized that he had to have his control of us before he could assert himself elsewhere. Our relationship and how he interacted with me was the basis of how he'd treat the others.

"You got all of that from last night?" he asked in a low voice.

Looking up, I noticed that I'd zoned out. Jacob was sitting back on his haunches, his profile to me. Again, I'd projected.

Sitting up in the bed, I wrapped the sheet around my chest, tucking it under my arms. "It was perfectly clear. I'm still not quite sure what caused the change in you, but it's pretty evident that you've seriously and finally embraced your primal side. And I must say that I like it."

"Yeah?" His expression was hesitant, like he didn't believe what I was telling him, which was understandable. I'd freaked out the last time he'd told me that he'd changed, that he wasn't the same person he'd been.

Laughing at myself, I suddenly figured out that I was the dumbest person on the planet. We all changed every day. Our personalities shifted with events that affected us on a daily basis. How could I have been so stupid?

"Absolutely."

He sighed. "Nessie, part of what you just thought about bothers me."

I expected him to come sit on the bed and have some serious eye contact, but he just stayed on the floor, his eyes on the fire that he'd built back up for me. Because it wasn't for him. He was always hot. He'd reconstructed that fire for me, so that I'd be warm without him in the bed. Though he'd embraced that wild side of him, he was still the sweet, chivalrous man that I loved.

"Which part?"

Quite a few heartbeats passed between us before he answered. "Morgan was right that I needed to quit pining after you and looking for your permission to be who I'm meant to be. But she was also wrong. I _need _you. You help me to settle my mind and think. Every single day, I rely on you to ground me, to give me a reason to fight. Your advice and suggestions and opinions mean everything to me. The final decision doesn't need to be just mine. It needs to be ours. When Morgan said all of that to me, she hadn't imprinted yet. She didn't understand the power of a mate in her life. She does now, though. I can't do this without you."

My heart melting, I wrapped the sheet around my naked, deliciously sore body and went to kneel next to him on the floor. I placed my hand on his warm cheek and leaned in to kiss him gently on the lips.

"Jacob, I would never abandon you to do this on your own. As I said last night, you won't have to do this without me. I'm here, and I'm _staying_ here."

He kissed me back. "Good. I love you, woman."

Smiling, I whispered, "I love you, too, my man."

"I'm a dog, remember?"

"And I've got your leash."

His lips moved against mine with his own smile. "Mmm, sounds kinky. Be sure to shop for one while you're out."

Surprise made me frown as I pulled back from him. "You got a kinky side that I don't know about?"

He shrugged. "Never too early or late to experiment."

I laughed as he winked at me.

Moving so that I sat on the floor next to him, I absently traced his lips with my fingertips. "So, where am I going? I wasn't aware that I had any plans."

He nodded. "I made them for you. Bella and the other girls agreed that you guys need a day out. Our wedding is in a couple months and Alice said that she needed to grab some things from Seattle. Patrick and Alana are going to go with you. Adam and Derek prefer not to leave Forks."

My fingers had crept along the back of his neck to play with the hair at his nape. It made sense that the two males wanted to stay far away from strangers just in case they imprinted. They were far too in love, and it would break them if one of them imprinted on someone else.

"And what are you gonna do today?"

"Gather the pack and the Cullens, and have a meeting." Before I could say anything, he continued. "I'll tell you whatever we talk about. I just know that you need time with your female relatives and to pamper a bit before the wedding." He placed his palm on my cheek. "I am going to make you my wife, but I also need to make you safe."

Absently, I rubbed my thumb over his cheekbone. "Just make sure you also plan to keep yourself safe. _I _can't do this without _you_."

Reaching up to cover my hand with his, he brought my palm to his lips. "Never have to."

Once his lips touched mine, I knew that if we didn't get off the floor and if I didn't get clothes on, I wouldn't be fulfilling those plans and he wouldn't be having that meeting. Both were much needed items at the moment, so I pulled away and went for the closet.

Pulling out some jeans from one of the drawers, I went to put them on when something caught my eye. Light purple bruises wrapped around the skin of my inner thighs and, upon further inspection, my hips. Turning to the full-length mirror, I fully dropped the sheet to further inspect my body. Doing a little spin, I also saw the bite marks on my neck at the top of my spine and on one of my shoulders.

In the mirror's reflection, I saw Jacob leaning against the doorjamb with his arms crossed over his massive chest, muscles in his arms and shoulders flexing with the movement. His eyes raked my body, but not in an _oh-my-god-are-you-ok?_ kind of way, but more possessive, proprietary. He liked what he'd done to me. When our eyes met in the mirror, he unwrapped those powerful arms and stalked silently over the carpeted expanse between us. Without a word, I wrapped his arms around my waist as we stood there, staring at our reflections. With our matching hickies on our chests and matching bite marks on the same shoulders, we looked like male and female versions of each other.

As we watched each other in the mirror, I lifted my hand up to run over his shoulder and around his neck. Feeling the need to reassure him anyway, I said, "I love every mark and I'll miss them when they're gone."

I watched as he leaned down to gently press his lips to the slope of my shoulder where it met my neck. In all the frenzy sex that had been happening, those lips had been fierce and hard over my skin. But now, they were utter silk, soft as a whisper, as they moved over me, making me want to melt into the man behind me.

"I'll put 'em back when they fade," he murmured into my neck.

"Can't wait." When I tried to push him back so that we could get ready for the day, he just tightened his grip around my waist, causing a laugh to burst through my still swollen and red lips. "Come on, Jake. We gotta get ready. Shelby's lack of patience won't allow us to take another roll through the sheets."

"What sheets? We kicked them all off last night." Though his words suggested what Shelby could do with her lack of patience, he backed off and went to his side of the closet. "But you're right. You girls need some time together."

Rifling through my side of the closet, I found my outfit for the day and started to dress. "Why do you keep saying that?" I asked as I shimmied into my jeans.

He slipped a black tank over his hard upper body and turned to me. "Nessie, like I already told you, I've been taking up so much of your time chasing you around like love-struck pup. I love you and have had you so many times that I should be sated by now. Clearly, you scramble me up so bad that I forget my sense of duty to my pack. So I've gotta muscle myself into getting out of bed and away from you to do my job." Padding back over to me, he wrapped his arms around my hips. "Don't get me wrong, I love being with you, but we both have jobs to do. You're the leader of the females, and I need to get as much info as I can on these other wolves from Caden."

It seemed silly, but for the first time as I leaned into his big body, I felt the power of him hum through me. After all the false starts, I finally felt his acceptance of the dominant side of him. Though his libido wanted to wrap us up in the bed all day, the man in him was forcing down the hormonal teenager so that he could do what he could to protect all of us and ensure more days in a happily ever after. He was now truly alpha male, and I sure as hell felt sorry for Tristan when he comes back to take on our pack. Last night, the moment he'd said what he had about putting Nyla in the ground, I knew that Jacob would rip Tristan apart.

"You're right," he said into my ear. "It's finally become clear to me how very real the threat is. Especially after what happened back in November. I cannot lose you, so Caden and the rest of us are going to sit down and start from scratch."

Reaching up on my tip-toes, I pressed a chaste kiss to his lips. No tongue or teeth, just warm lips against warm lips.

"Well, then we better dressed and get you to that meeting."

Twenty minutes later, we'd turned off all the lights, set the security system, and locked the door. Jacob took a moment to scan the woods, lifting his face to the wind so that he could scent it.

"You're not gonna have a fit on me again, are you?"

I shrugged. "That would depend on whatever is in the woods, but I'll try."

All the way down to the house, he kept his arm around my waist, but his eyes were on the woods, scanning, and nose scenting the breeze. Adam and Derek had flanked us as soon as we'd walked off the porch in their wolf forms. I put my free hand in Derek's fur as we walked. The touch was comforting, and I found myself wondering if he and Adam had in face imprinted on each other. As Adam and Caden had said, we really didn't know the full spectrum of all the properties of the imprint. Maybe they'd been in love before phasing and hadn't felt that connection click because it had already been there. I hoped so for their sakes. They were perfect for each other.

Abruptly, Derek turned to me so that he could nuzzle under my chin. My mental walls had stayed down since the first night Jacob and I had made love. The unconscious habit hadn't picked back up since he'd told me that he hated it when I blocked from him. Derek's muzzle went back to my hair where he snuffled into my neck.

As I giggled, Jacob tightened his arm over my hip and chuckled. "Alright, Derek. Get off my woman."

In response, Derek stepped closer to me, defying Jacob as he pressed his side into mine. I wrapped my arms awkwardly around him as we kept walking.

"Aww, Jacob, he just wants some lovin'."

Jacob's dark eyes narrowed as Adam let out a chuff as if he were laughing. Derek's purr vibrated up my arms and through my chest.

"He can get that from his man. He doesn't need it from you," Jacob grumbled, but I knew he was just playing.

So I played back. "Every man needs a little love from a female, even if he prefers males in his bed."

Derek huffed in a serious manner as if he were agreeing with me.

Those eyes narrowed on the wolf again. "All I ask is that you put some pants on before you hug her, no matter your orientation."

A grumbling sound came from that broad chest under my arms.

"Alright, boys. Separate to your corners."

Jacob pulled me back against his body but allowed me to keep a hand on Derek as we finished the walk to the big Cullen house. As soon as we reached the clearing, the two wolves darted off in the direction of one of the giant trees in the backyard where their extra clothes were kept. Jacob and I waited for them to come back before we walked into the house. Derek pulled me into a giant bear hug, one that competed with Uncle Emmett's. Adam pounded knuckles with Jake as he waited for his own hug.

When he pulled me up off my feet, he said, "Beautiful as always," into my ear.

"Thank you, Adam."

He nodded and then turned to Jacob. "Most of the pack is here. We're just waiting on Sam and Emily."

"And all the girls are ready to go."

"Patrick and Alana are here?"

Derek nodded. "Yup. They're rounding up the cars. Embry wants to go, too. I told him I'd run it by you."

Jacob considered it for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, sure. Sounds good. He needs some fresh air."

Derek and Adam went inside first and we followed. All the females of the house were gathered around the front door. Patrick and Alana were standing outside next to two blacked-out SUVs, their heads bent toward the other. At first it looked as though they were kissing, a second glance showed that they were talking. Probably discussing the security procedures.

Patrick was tall, lean, and lethal from what I'd heard about him. Skilled in the martial arts and knives, it was surprising that he wasn't one of my perma-guards. It did make sense that he was coming with us as we headed out of town though. Alana was just as dangerous with a couple guns attached to her ankle and the small of her back. I knew she also had a couple knives somewhere on her person. They were a match made in heaven. Luckily, they'd imprinted on each other.

When they caught me watching them, both of them nodded at me in a show of respect. Returning the respect, I nodded back before darting into the house to meet the other women of the house.

**JPOV**

As I followed Nessie inside, I gave both of the two guards a curt nod, which they returned with a bow from the neck. The motion stopped me dead in my tracks. They'd never done that before. Nessie was right. Me finally embracing the wolf and dominance was noticeable. And this time, it was a permanent acceptance. Not the false starts and promises to myself.

Man, Morgan's whole speech came back to me. _King_. Again that word pin-balled around my brain, pinging around.

Patrick and Alana were two of the most dangerous wolves in the pack, but also two of the most compassionate. They were competent enough to handle any trouble that the ladies faced, which was good. This was supposed to be a girls' day out so I knew they wouldn't want a bunch of guys following them around. Embry and Patrick were perfect. As was Alana. She could go into the restrooms with the ladies. Two males were necessary, though, because you didn't send a bunch of attractive women out by themselves into a giant city like Seattle. Absolutely not. I wouldn't risk my family like that.

Just before I turned to go into the house, Sam's truck pulled up the drive and parked to the side. Getting out, he ran around the vehicle to help Emily out. Together they worked to gather Leila and her bags and stroller. This would be good for Emily, to get away from the rez and present her daughter to the world.

I waited for them to meet me on the porch. After pounding my knuckles to Sam's, I leaned over to press a kiss to Leila's forehead and hug Em.

"How you guys doing?"

Emily grinned excitedly. "We're good. You have no idea how ecstatic I am to be getting out of the house. A girls' day was your best idea yet, Jacob. Thanks."

I grinned back. "Not a problem. I think all the girls are ready to head out whenever you are."

She nodded. "Let me just change Leila real quick, and then we can head out."

"Sounds good. Sam, you ready for this meeting?"

Waves of uneasiness poured off of him. I understood. His mate and daughter were about to be away from him, miles and miles away from him for the first time since Leila was born. It was bound to be hard on him, always wondering if they were ok.

"Sam," Patrick called from the cars. When Sam turned to him, he continued, "They'll be safe with us. Embry is coming, too. We'll put him on your females, ok? They won't be left unguarded."

Sam's broad shoulders lifted as he took in a deep breath. Eventually, he nodded and turned back to me.

"Let's do this. We have a family to protect."

I clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Amen to that, brother. Amen to that."

An hour later, long after the girls had left, the members of the pack that weren't on patrol and the Cullens were all crowded into the house. Caden was standing with me at the head of the new dining room table that could seat, like, a thousand people while we all leaned over to look at the maps of the rez and Forks, our territories. We'd spent the first hour going over all the new patrol lines and schedules as well as protective details on all those that weren't preternaturally capable to take on werewolves. The Cullens had been drafted into the both patrols and security by Caden. They hadn't argued. It gave us more manpower.

I was also back on patrol shifts, but during the day so that I could stay with Nessie at night just in case those nightmares got burped up again.

Sam walked back into the room as he stuffed his phone in his pocket and nodded at me. The girls were fine. He'd called for a check-in thirty minutes ago. Seemed all was still well with the girls' day out.

"The cabin was here, and that's where we were staying. Not sure if they moved after I left." Caden pointed to a spot on the map where that decrepit cabin had burned with him and Nessie still inside.

"You think they'll have stayed there?" Carlisle asked.

Caden shook his head. "Not a chance. Tristan is smart. He'll have realized that we'd put that waste of space into the patrol territory after all that. If anything, they may have headed further up north. Tristan kept saying that we had allies up there." Those amber eyes flicked to mine. "Apparently your brethren up there didn't quite feel a connection anymore."

A low growl vibrated up through my chest. "Then, I guess we'll need to make another visit."

For a long moment, Caden stared at me as if he were thinking of saying something but trying to judge my reaction beforehand. That tuned me in to who his plan would include. I started shaking my head before he said, "Take Nessie. I know you don't want her up there, but she can help explain her kind. Any of the other Cullens will rock the ship. They're full-blooded vampires. She's half human."

God, those two were on the same brain wave. I'd thought she was over that. Maybe she was, but he was just getting started. "She's my mate. I won't risk her life like that."

"Jacob," Caden said in an infuriatingly calm voice. "She should get to make that call, not you. She's her own person and has her own rights. Not to mention, we'll go up there en masse. It would make sense to have some of your wolves and maybe even the Cullens search the area just in case Tristan took his pack up there."

Gritting my teeth, I bit back a growl. "I'll think about it. Now tell us about your kind of werewolf. We need to know everything you can tell us."

Silence enveloped the room as all eyes went to the apparently agitated wolf. Caden busied himself with folding up the maps and papers, no doubt thinking about all he was about to divulge. Once he finished with all the paper, he started pacing, hands on his hips, eyes on the floor. The room stayed quiet as he gathered himself, my wolves staying as still as they could and the Cullens moving nothing but their eyes. I took up space on the wall, leaning my weight into my shoulders and crossed my arms over my chest.

Abruptly the pacing stopped. His hands scrubbed his face and then went back to his hips. Leah went to stand close to him but didn't get in his space. Sensing her presence, the tension loosened out of his shoulders and he nodded.

"Alright." Another scrub over his face. "Ok, well, of course you all know that we're known as the Children of the Moon, which is true. Every full moon we have no choice but to change. The animal inside us takes over, and we become passengers in our own skin. There are, however, exceptions. Only the most powerful, like all the wolves in Tristan's pack, can shift at will. Also, we can partial shift, as in just our claws if need be."

"Wait," Seth interjected. "Sorry for the interrupt, but thinking about my mate and the baby, if you have no choice during the full moon, how do you procreate? And why hasn't Shelby shifted?"

Caden nodded. "Only the really powerful females can calm their bodies during the months of pregnancy. My guess is that, even though Shelby still won't talk about what happened, one of Tristan's pack got his claws into her. With that kind of power going into her and her own personality mixing, that makes for one hell of a powerful wolf. Her instincts told her she was pregnant before we actually knew, therefore, her body tempered itself, regulating to accommodate the baby. Once she has the pup, though, I figure she'll change with the following full moon."

"And what is the shift for you guys like?" I asked. "We've only seen you in wolf form after you go through it."

"There's a damn good reason for that. The only time we're truly vulnerable is the shift. It's incredibly painful. Bones breaking and reknitting. Muscles popping, strengthening and elongating. Fur sprouting out of our very skin. It takes up to a full minute and half to shift. Throughout the whole process, we're completely incapable of protecting ourselves. More often than not, that's how a lot of us die. Our enemies take advantage of that."

Edward stepped away from the wall. "What about the girl? The one born to two shifters?"

Caden took a deep breath. "Nyla has always been different. Her scent lacks the potency of the disease. But her shifting is only slightly faster than ours. And she's more in touch with her wolf side. A lot of shifters who survived attacks to get to where they are refuse to accept their beast. Which is a mistake. If the beast isn't let out when it wants to be, all hell breaks loose. It's a give and take system for us. We give in to the beast over lesser evils, it'll let us keep some awareness and control over it."

The entire room shivered at once, even the vampires.

"You make it seem like a monster and completely separate," Carlisle said from the kitchen doorway.

Caden nodded. "Absolutely." He motioned to me and around the room at the other wolves. "The werewolves you're used to, meaning Jacob and the others, were born with the werewolf gene. They've always had that primal instinct whether it was triggered or not. With us? We were infected with it, injected with an alien life that we've had to share the steering wheel with. I have accepted who I am. If I don't fight the shift, it's a lot smoother because I'm letting the beast have his time to shine. In a way, he and I have an accord. I let him out, he lets me decide how far we can take things depending upon the situation."

A lot of confused looks went his way as well as raised eyebrows. The word _crazy_ bounced silently around the walls.

He shook his head and put his hands back on his hips. "Let's put it this way. It's like talking to yourself. You have an internal debate. Except this time, I'm the conscience. Sometimes, I have to tell my inner wolf that if we do something, then after he gets put back into his cage, my human self has to deal with the consequences of the havoc he wrought."

A sharp growl ripped through the room. All eyes went to Seth. "And Shelby's going to have to go through this," he ground out from between his teeth.

"Not necessarily. Shelby's a very tough woman. She and her wolf have already made the biggest pact that females can make with themselves: to not shift until the pup is born. That's the ultimate show of strength from a female, and she sure as hell has my full respect."

"But can't she still shift?"

Caden shook his head. "No. It's a done deal. What normally happens is that a female won't know she's pregnant before she shifts, and then, unfortunately, she miscarries but doesn't learn til later what happened. Shelby was so attuned to her body that she knew something was up. That's what kept her from shifting. It's quite impressive."

"So that's what happened with Nyla's parents?" I asked from my corner.

The wolf who had everyone's attention seemed to have lost the rest of the tension because he didn't look as conflicted. Once we'd accepted the whole talking to yourself bit, he'd settled down. Now, he faced me.

"Yes. Nyla's mother was the alpha female of the pack, her father the pack leader. Males know almost the moment that their females become pregnant because of the scent of the shift in hormones. Seth probably noticed the change in Shelby but didn't know what it was so he didn't say anything. But Nyla's father knew what it was and told his mate the news before the next full moon. Basically, males of my kind are the pregnancy tests. However, with that being said, there are a lot of lone males and females that happen to mate at random when those pheromones are in the air, so those females, after the mating, take off not knowing if they're pregnant or not. More often than not, those females lose the pregnancy."

All this was very interesting, and luckily, Shelby seemed to be ok in terms of carrying the baby to term. However, we were not going up against pregnant females, not that we'd hurt one of those anyway. Pushing away from the wall, I went to stand next to him.

"Ok, we need to get back on track. What are we up against in terms of an aggressive attack from them? Right now, we haven't seen Jane around, so we need to concentrate on the wolves. They've been the closest to our territories. How many are in that pack?"

Caden took a moment to count out. "All in all? Probably around forty to at least fifty."

The blood drained out of my head. We were nearly even with close to sixty wolves in my pack. "What abilities do they possess against us?"

"Fast. Very fast. As in," he motioned toward the Cullens. "Vampire fast. One moment there-," Suddenly, he wasn't standing in front of me. He was all the way across the table standing next to Emmett. "The next, gone." Then he raised his hand so that we all could see it. Before our eyes, the fingers lengthened, knuckles popping and shifting. Those nails grew darker and sharper until they were dagger like claws, razor sharp. "Like I said earlier, partial shift. Every one of Tristan's packmates can do this."

Jasper stepped forward, an expression on his face telling everyone he was intrigued. "Do you think, with training from you, that Jacob and his wolves could move like that? Maybe partial shift as well?"

As Caden's arm went back to normal, he surveyed all the wolves. "I'm not sure. We can give it a go. Normally, in most packs, even with natural wolves, there are dominants and betas. But it seems as though all of the wolves here are of the dominant variety. They listen to orders and yet keep their own personalities strong. It's not normal. And neither is Tristan's pack. He pulled together some of the most powerful shifters he could find. A lot of internal fights happened with us. If Jacob is alright with it, I can try to get them to rile up their wolf selves enough to get to their primal roots."

With that, all eyes came to me. If I went with this, there was no going back to the peaceful wolves we had been. We'd be entering into a new era of the Quileute wolves, breeding a new type of protection that went beyond our morals and sensible selves within our wolf bodies.

I met the eyes of all the wolves that I could. The intensity with which they watched me, stared at me as I thought about their future, hit me hard. They were trusting me with their future, their very lives. Right then and there, I knew that I would do anything to keep them safe, even change them into animals the animals that our bodies changed into.

There was only one response. I nodded. "Any of those willing to go through the training is welcome. If any of you have any oppositions to this, tell me now."

Not one objection from any of them.

Caden and I met stares…

And nodded our agreement.

**RPOV**

"Here," Aunt Alice said as she thrust comet-sized ball of white contrasting fabric at me. "Try these."

Grinding my teeth, I took what she shoved at me. "Woman," I growled. "I thought you already had my dress designed?"

"I did, but that was before you lost your virginity. Now, it just doesn't work."

My eyes bugged out of my head as she said this in a normal tone so that the other women in the dressing rooms could hear. Shelby, who had come into the dressing room with me, just shook her head with a smirk.

"Red accents," my aunt said, more to herself than anybody else. "It'll need red accents now to match your passion with Jacob. So now I have to piece together a new dress."

Forty-five minutes and twenty dresses later, Aunt Alice had her sketch and wouldn't even show me. Apparently, my dress was a surprise for everybody. And the wedding was in just under two months. October twentieth. That's what she was aiming for. How the heck she was going to get all this crap together by then?

As we left the bridal studio, Patrick took the lead with Aunt Alice while Alana took the rear, and Embry stayed tight to Emily and Leila. Shelby and I were surrounded by everybody else. To passerby we looked like just a normal group of people, but I knew that they were keeping me, Shelby, and Emily on the inside where it was safer.

Alice steered us toward a baby shop that she knew of but had never been in before. Though she was using Leila as an excuse to go in, I knew it was because of Shelby. And maybe me for any future references. Which made my palms sweaty and thoughts of me and Jacob twisted up in sheets. Which led to different thoughts of my belly swollen, Jacob wrapped around me, and his ear pressed to the swell as we shopped online for baby stuff or looked up names.

Shelby's hand lightly touched mine. "It'll happen, Ness. I promise."

Looking down, I found that my hand had spread over the flat plane of my stomach. And I must have projected as well. I smiled up at Shelby distractedly as she wrapped her arm into the crook of my arm while we headed into the store.

Two hours after we went into the store, my suspicions that my aunt was taking notes on me was confirmed. She'd kept a notebook out to keep notes for Shelby, but every now and then, when I'd picked up something and said it was cute, I'd see Aunt Alice going for that notepad again.

Man, she was making nervous. It was like she was putting pressure for me and Jacob to get pregnant. Frankly, I just wanted this whole Volturi/other pack mess to dissipate before we even thought about kids. Hell, I'd like to just get to the wedding. However, as we all walked back to the car holding all of our bags, a sense of dread settled into my gut. The boys were all huddled around talking about defensive procedures, and I knew that if Jacob got his claws into Tristan, it would be an all-out war between the two packs.

I prayed to whatever god was out there that we made it through this bout of violence that was about to descend upon us.

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**Does anybody else get chills with this one? I kind of did. Jacob and Nessie have already been screaming in my head about what happens between Tristan and Jake, so I'm trying to get there as fast as I can. It's like pulling teeth to get them to tell me the bits up until then, so I hope you enjoyed this one! Luv you guys! xoxoxoxoxo**


	18. Chapter 18

**Ok, hey guys! I have finally been able to get on someone else's computer so that I can let you guys know that I HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN YOU! I promise! My computer got some sort of malware on it and therefore my USB that has my stories on it has been corrupted. As soon as I get my computer fixed, we will fix my USB. I know it's been over a month and I really miss you guys. So PLEASE just hang tight. We are working as fast as we can. I was told that it was a nasty bug on my computer so we're working on it. As soon as everything is a go, you guys will be the first to know. I will work my fingers to nubs to get you an update.**


	19. Chapter 19

***Skids into room* GUYS! Guess what?! I'm baaaaaack! With Ch.18. :D This one is gonna be short, just to give you guys a taste and to dip your toes back into the story. Don't wanna overwhelm you. Heck, I'm overwhelmed. And you're probably gonna hate me for the end of this one, too. But that's ok. Why? Because I can update now! YAY!**

***Disclaimer***

**Please Enjoy!**

* * *

**SethPOV**

Sighing in relief, I leaned back against the headboard of my and Shelby's mated bed. All of us who hadn't gone with the ladies had just finished discussing the pros and cons of going up to the Makah reservation for a little talk and threat if they were harboring Tristan's pack when the females in question had walked through the door of the Cullen house. Shelby had walked in, glowing from spending the day with her friends but also exhausted. I'd taken all of her bags from Patrick and then we'd headed up here for the night.

She was in the bath as I rested back to let our food have time to heat up. Esme had whipped up a couple things of enchiladas. One for us, and one for Jake and Nessie. I'd watched as the other couple made it safely into their cabin, smiling and holding each other close. All was right with the world now that they were finally, permanently together.

Jacob had finally agreed to let Nessie go up north to visit our cousins. I wasn't thrilled with idea any more than he was. And Shelby didn't have a choice. She wasn't going. Luckily, she hadn't fought me on that order. The need to protect our unborn child was more powerful than her need to be a bad-ass.

"Seth?"

Shelby's voice pulled me out of my thoughts from the bathroom. "Yeah?"

From inside, I could hear the water move around softly, as if she were arranging her arms and legs. "What did you guys talk about today?"

Taking a deep breath, I forced myself to let it out slowly. I'd kind of been dreading that question. Her worrying about us wouldn't help all the security precautions run smoothly, but she had a right to know what kind of danger her mate was in. If she'd been in my position, I'd have demanded every word the moment I'd come into contact with her.

So, with that in mind, my palms rubbed over my jeans as my legs carried the rest of me to the bathroom. Shelby was neck-deep in water in the claw-footed tub, bubbles and all. The room smelled like lemon and cinnamon. Bringing over the chair that was in the corner, I parked it and watched her while I thought of what to say.

Seeing my face, she sat up straight. Her hair had grown in the months that she'd moved in with the Cullens so she'd been able to put that ink-black hair into a clip.

"Baby? You ok?"

I nodded. "Yeah. We just went over a lot."

"Like what?"

"Pregnancy," my mouth blurted out before I could catch it.

Green eyes widened and shot to mine. That's the one subject that had been on both our minds. In all of the books and myths that I'd ever read, none of the shifters could have children. The only ones that could were my kind, the Quileute wolves because we decided when we wanted to phase out. I'd been so scared that Shelby was going to shift at any given time without regard to the moon. As Caden had said, Shelby was some kind of special.

"What about it?" she asked quietly.

Blowing out a breath, I leaned my elbows down on my knees. "According to Caden we don't have to worry about you shifting while you're pregnant. He said that for now it's a done deal. After you have the baby, he thinks you'll shift."

She blew out her own breath and sank deeper into the tub. "Good, that's good."

My fingers ran through my hair. "Still, if you feel anything off, you call Caden first and then me, ok?"

It was not a request and she knew it. She nodded. "Yeah, of course."

"So, how are you feeling?"

"A bit nauseous, but that might be because I haven't eaten since about two o'clock."

Feeling like an awkward kid, I got up and went for the door. "The food should be warmed up by now. I'll just pull it out of the oven."

Before I could make it out of the bathroom door, the water in the tub sloshed heavily. A moment later, a towel snapped and more sloshing sounded. Two more steps and I'd been out the door, but that stopped when Shelby's warmer than normal hand landed between my shoulder blades.

"Seth, why are you acting so awkward? Is it about the meeting?"

Oxygen seemed to be hard to get by. But she had a point. Just the fact that we were about to start training to become the deadly nightmares of children's fairytales unsettled me. For years we'd only been dangerous to the vampires in our wolf forms, but Caden was about to teach us how to be dangerous even in our human forms. All this time, I'd been in control of myself and my actions, even when I'd phased. My wolf and I had been in sync with each other, knowing that our only enemies were the vampires and now, the other wolves. But with what Caden wanted us to do, it seemed as if we were all about to attack our wolf selves with no warning, aggressing against that which had helped to protect not only our people but ourselves. What was worse was Caden wanted Shelby at the training. He'd said it would benefit her to know how her body worked should she need to use it at any time during the pregnancy to protect herself and the baby.

"Seth?" Her hand had wandered up to the nape of my neck. "Baby, please talk to me. What's going on?"

Reaching back, I wrapped my arm around her waist to bring her around and against my body. She came in close, our bodies touching from chest to toes.

Watching her eyes grow worried, I stroked her warm, flushed cheek. "I'm happy about the baby. It's just…we also went over something else. I'm not quite sure how I feel about it, either."

Shelby nudged herself closer to my body, leaning her weight into me. I wrapped my arms around her and held her close.

"What is it?"

Looking down into her jade green, worried eyes, I found my strength. The fear of learning how to be lethal was being heavily outweighed by the fact that the woman in my arms and the child growing inside of her both needed me to do whatever it took to keep them safe.

Reaching up, I released her hair from the clip so that it fell down around her shoulders.

"Tristan wants to try to teach us how to partial shift the way his…your…kind of werewolf can. He also wants to try to teach us how to move like them, like the Cullens. We're fast but not that fast. But there's one other thing."

"What?" Her eyes had grown wide at the possibilities.

"He wants you there to see if you can kick-start the partial shift."

Her brows pulled together into a frown. "But won't that start the total shift?"

Rubbing her bare arms and shoulders, I shook my head. "He doesn't seem to think so. He thinks that the communion between you and your wolf cements the pregnancy. She won't risk her own pup. The two of you are one cohesive being."

She nodded thoughtfully. "Well, that makes sense, then."

"What makes sense?"

She shrugged again and tightened her arms around my waist. "It just feels like…I don't know, like there's something inside of me, something caged. It's like I can feel the she-wolf walking around. Maybe it's in my head so that I have something to grasp onto, but she feels very real. And it's like we can communicate, though her thoughts are very primal, right down to the roots and wildness of everything."

Without a doubt, I could have stayed like this forever. She wrapped safely in my arms. The two of us safe in our own house without any prying ears or eyes. I wanted nothing more than to take the towel off of her, strip my own clothes, and just lie down together in bed, skin to skin with our unborn child safely between us. The scenario was probably going to happen tonight, but first Shelby needed to eat. I did not want her to be going hungry when she had two to feed.

"You ok?" she asked.

Her voice shook me out of my own thoughts. Smiling down at her, I brushed her hair back from her face. Then leaned in to press a kiss to her soft lips.

"Yeah, I'm ok. Why don't you get dressed for bed and I'll get dinner together? It's probably on the verge of burning anyhow."

"Alright." She pecked my lips with hers and went for the closet while I went for the stairs.

Ten minutes later, she joined me at the dining room table where I'd set out the pan of enchiladas, plates, and forks. Water for her, soda for me. And I just couldn't help thinking about all the things that would be new around here in a few months. Baby seats and bottles in the kitchen. Toys spread out around the house. Clothes and bibs. Diapers and pacifiers and blankets. Early mornings were ahead of us. Probably nights of having a third heartbeat in bed with us. On a random thought, I wondered if Shelby would want to breastfeed.

"Seth?"

Shelby's voice suggested that she'd been trying to grab my attention for a while.

I shook myself. "Sorry. What?"

She quirked an eyebrow. "I asked if you're sure that you're ok."

"Oh, yeah." Not sure whether she'd enjoy me thinking of her breastfeeding, I scraped a mouthful of deliciousness into my mouth to give me time to come up with another topic of discussion. And before she could open her mouth to call my bluff, I came up with something. "So, you said that you can hear your inner wolf. What's that like?"

She narrowed those very knowing eyes at me as she took a sip of water. When she shrugged, I held back a sigh of relief.

"Don't you know?"

I shook my head and wiped my mouth with the napkin she'd handed me. "Nope. It's only ever just me in my head. I mean, I know that I have impulses and instincts but I'm not listening to a different voice."

A heartbeat or so passed as she thought about things. I knew she was trying to find the words to explain it, so I was patient and continued eating.

"Ok, it's kind of like it's my voice, but a different tone and different vocabulary. She and I are in agreement. She wants out, desperately, but not enough to sacrifice my-her-our child. I guess the way I see her is in my subconscious. She's just lying there, waiting for the baby to be born so that she can move and stretch. And she's guiding me in a way. Showing me the limits of what I can and cannot do with my body right now."

"What do you mean?"

To my surprise, she blushed. "Like, us making love. You've been so…gentle since we found out about the baby. But I keep getting these images."

"Of what?"

She frowned and shook her head. Her eyes focused but not on anything in this room. "I think it's our wolf forms, mating. And it's not gentle. She's letting me know that the baby-and me-are more durable than the norm because of what we are."

I just blinked at her, letting that sink in. Gentle was the only thing I could think of when I thought of the baby. And lately, with me being a dominant, gentle in bed had been grating on my nerves. Taking her hard, asserting my dominance over her was what my instincts were telling me. Now was the time to mark her, to let others know that she was mine, and that she was carrying my young.

Shelby's dark, sexy chuckle brought me out of my fantasies, and I realized that I was growling deep in my chest.

"I take it you're done with dinner?" she asked suggestively.

The growl got louder. "Yeah, I am."

Since there was nothing left of dinner, I scooped my mate out of her chair and went for the bedroom.

**RPOV**

Jake and I were curled up on the couch in front of the fire, still stuffed from Esme's enchiladas. The fire was roaring from Jacob building it up and I was cuddled up to his side, his massive arm around my shoulders. His fingers were tangled up in the curls at my waist, lightly brushing my hip. Watching the flames crackle, I leaned into his warm lips when they pressed to my forehead.

"I love you," he murmured against my skin.

I pressed my lips to his chest. "I love you, too."

"How was your day out?"

Snuggled up to him, my arms wound around his waist. "Amazing, but I think we need to watch ourselves around my pixie aunt."

His chuckled reverberated through his chest and into my ear. "And why do you say that?"

"She was watching me today while we were in a baby store for 'Leila'," I said bringing one hand up to make the air quotes. "The woman had a pen and paper. She was taking notes on me and Shelby about what we thought was cute or not. Luckily, Shelby's and my tastes run differently in the baby department. Otherwise we'd both have the same crap."

The motion of him leaning back brought my head up so I could meet his eyes. "What?"

"You got something you need to tell me?" he asked.

I laughed. "No. But I couldn't help looking."

"I know, sweetie." He pressed another kiss to my forehead. "I want them, too. But first, I want us married."

"Well, you know, if we keep going at the pace we are, we'll be pregnant before October."

He chuckled against me. "Hey, as long as we're married before the baby's born, I think I could be ok with that."

Rolling my eyes and shaking my head, I decided to change the subject. I just couldn't help that I desperately wanted what Shelby had right now. There was a little jealousy, but what save me from being angry was that she'd accepted it and already loved the baby. There was no more of that fear of becoming her mother now that she had her father's voice telling her that she wasn't her mother.

"So, how did your day go?" I asked.

Under me, his body tensed. That wasn't a good sign.

He cleared his throat. "Uh, well, Caden's pretty sure that Shelby won't shift till after the baby's born. He says some sort of communication and agreement between Shelby and her wolf. The ultimate strength of a female or something to that effect."

Relief flooded me. I hadn't realized that I'd been worried about that. "Good. That's good." But that couldn't have been cause for him to tense up like that. Something other than the pregnancy came up. "What else happened?" I asked stroking his chest. He eased up a bit.

Taking in a deep breath, he huffed it out as if he was thinking that he might as well just get it over with. "Caden wants to train us."

Leaning up, I narrowed my eyes and asked, "Train you how?" in enough of a suspicious voice that he got the point.

His free hand that wasn't playing with my hip came up to stroke my cheek. "He wants to train us to be like him, like his kind of wolf. Quick, like Cullen quick. Partial shifts. Things like that." A thoughtful look crossed his features. "Actually, I think those are the only two."

"That doesn't sound so bad. Why did it make you tense up?"

I had a terrible feeling that I was not going to like his answer.

Sure enough, he didn't disappoint. "Nessie, that kind of power is something that doesn't come naturally to us. We have the strength and speed in our wolf forms, but not our human. Caden thinks that if we come across one of Tristan's pack in our and their human form, that they won't readily recognize us. Maybe we'd be able to take them down if we had the same speed and abilities they do in their human form."

"Ok, that's great. That still doesn't explain-,"

"Ness, according to Caden, their inner-wolves are highly aggressive, primal beings. Ours are not. It's hard to explain the difference."

When he sat up straighter, I moved back so that he could rest his elbows into his knees. While he thought about what to say, I stroked his back. His lack of words clearly agitated him. He wanted me to understand what was going on and the effects. And I knew that Jake and Caden were two different types of werewolf, so, yeah, there were going to be differences.

"Ok," Jacob finally said. "Think of it this way. My pack and I are more like domesticated dogs. Our wildness only comes out when we're hunting vampires or other enemies. But at home, we're just giant puppies. But Caden's kind? Tristan? They're dangerous all the time. It's the difference between a wild dog and domestic dog. And to get to where they are, to be able to do the things we do, we have to give up that domestication."

Chills raced down my spine causing goosebumps to follow in a wave as what he was saying sank in. "So, you're saying that you have to give up some of your humanity?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Kind of like when a dog is abandoned by its owners and it's forced tap into its survival genes."

"You're surviving. Evolving."

Turning to me, he took my hands in his. The feel of that heavy ring on his finger resting against my skin soothed me. His dark eyes were steady and strong, maybe a little worried. But there was no fear there. He'd embraced the decision he'd made. Because I knew that he had made the decision by himself to go through with it. No doubt he'd given the pack a choice, but he'd never ask his pack to go through something if he wasn't willing to go through it.

"I don't know how much of me will change, but I promise you-,"

I put a finger to his lips.

"Jacob, you will always be you. But after this, if it works, you'll just be a little more dangerous. And you would never hurt me. I know that. You being who you are will know where to point that anger and aggression if you acquire it." I shrugged. "If this doesn't work, then you'll still use what you've got to work with. And you'll still be my Jacob. That's all that matters."

Those chocolate eyes melted and glassed over while he swallowed hard. "You are the most amazing woman." He gathered me up in his arms and held me close. I stroked his back and the nape of his neck. "Will you be there?"

"At the training sessions? Duh. Absolutely."

His embrace tightened. "Seriously, how did I live without you before this?"

"Miserably?" I offered with a smile.

The massive chest pressed against me rumbled with laughter. "Absolutely. Of course, I was miserable."

Pulling back, I stroked his cheekbones with my thumbs. "I'm not going anywhere, Jake. We already established that. You're stuck with me."

He pulled me in for another hug. "And thank god for that."

**JPOV**

It was official: I was mated to the strongest, most selfless woman on the planet. And she was right. I had been miserable before she came into my life. But now? It was all good. Now that I had her, there was no way I could live without her. And, I had thought that tonight, she might have given me an ultimatum. It had been a stupid fear, but a real one. I was telling her that I was about to become a dangerous beast, or try to at least. And how did she take it? Amazingly.

Wrapping my arms around her once more, I leaned back against the couch to enjoy the roaring fire. Tonight was peaceful. It had been another warm day and some of the animals who made these woods their home were still out running around.

But of course, the peacefulness couldn't last.

My phone vibrated in my pocket with a text. Ness and I read it at the same time.

I felt the color drain out of my face just as I watched hers turn paper white.

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**Man, it feels good to be back. I promise that I never forgot you guys. And I promise to update as often as possible even if the chapters are shorter. I know you like the longer ones, but the shorter may come a lot faster. If you have an opinion about that, please let me know! Love you guys! Thanks for hanging in there for me! xoxoxoxoxoxo**


	20. Chapter 20

**Alrighty, guys...Ch. 19 is here. The cliffy answered. And I have some good stuff coming up. A lot of you have been asking about Embry. Well, wishes granted. He's gonna be around a lot now. YAY! I really don't know how you guys are going to react to this one, but we'll see.**

***Disclaimer***

**Please Enjoy!**

* * *

**JPOV**

"Where?" I demanded of Caden as soon as I set foot on the Cullen porch. "And how do you know?"

The tall male leaned over to kiss Leah and then came over to meet with me. Amber eyes shifted to Nessie.

"Maybe you should wait inside," he said. It wasn't a request. I had been just about to say the same thing, only with a pleading, puppy dog look.

Unfortunately, Caden's direct order perked her right up. And ruffled some feathers. She gripped my hand and kicked up her chin.

"I'm going with you. I need to know what's going on, and since some people like to beat around the bush and leave stuff out, I'm not sitting here waiting to be lied to or treated like an invalid."

I sighed and swung a look at Caden. "You couldn't have asked nicely?"

He shrugged.

"Hello. I _should _be involved in the important stuff. I am the alpha female, am I not? And this is important."

"How do you-,"

Nessie made an exasperated noise. "I saw the text you sent Jake."

Caden turned his amber glare on me. "Is nothing private anymore?"

"Hey, when Leah gets out of this 'honeymoon' phase with you, let me know so I can watch you try to keep something from her. I'd love to see what happens. Now time's wasting. Let's go." I turned to Ness. "Any chance of you-,"

"Don't even think about it," she said, crossing her arms over her stomach.

"Are we ready?" a voice said behind us.

We all turned to find Seth and Shelby making their way up the path that led to the porch. Both of them looked messy and disheveled, sporting sex hair and rumpled clothes. When they reached us, Caden shook his head.

"Shelby's not going."

I nodded. "Agreed." I turned to her. "Shelby, you wait inside with the others."

Surprisingly, she didn't argue. After a kiss with Seth and a glance at Nessie, she went into the house and locked the door.

Caden pushed past us to leap off the porch. "Come on. We need to hurry. I'll explain everything once you're there."

"Edward," I said in a normal tone. "I want you out here with us. Carlisle, too."

Not two seconds later, both of the men I called appeared in the clearing, as well as Jasper and Emmett. Nodding to the two fighters, I took Nessie's hand and followed Caden, who had already begun tromping through the woods at the edge of the yard. Leah was close behind him, but not touching him. It was clear that he was agitated, his shoulders twitching, voice sharp, eyes shrewd.

As we all made our way through the woods, toward Forks, Nessie's hand squeezed mine. My back tightened with uneasiness. And it took me a while, till we were almost there before Caden stopped, that I noticed the woods were quiet over here despite the warm weather.

Abruptly, the scent of blood assaulted my nose. Though my sense of smell wasn't as strong as it was in wolf form, that coppery tang filled my sinuses and slipped down my throat. Next to me, Nessie grimaced and coughed like she was trying to get the taste out.

Edward and I shared a look over her head. He'd already seen what was in Caden's head-

He shook his head and frowned.

Great. Caden was blocking him out somehow.

"Brace yourselves. Once we get through this thicket, we'll be in a clearing." He paused for a moment, his eyes growing distant. Swallowing hard enough to hear, he finished, "It won't be pretty."

Caden cleared a path for us. As the smell became stronger, I decided to go ahead of Nessie, just in case. With those nightmares she already had, there were just some things that she didn't need to see.

Instinctively, as soon as I was through the bushes, my eyes scanned the perimeter of the clearing. I frowned. There was nothing out of place here. It was all green and warm with some little flowers blooming. Knee-high grass on everyone else brushed my calves. But that copper tang was here. It was centered here. My head started pounding with the force of it. Looking around found Caden standing over to the right, hands on his hips. Leah was with him looking like she was about to throw up. When Nessie started over, I followed.

"Nessie, wait-,"

Before I could grab her, she was next to Caden, looking at whatever it was that he was staring at. A strangled gasp left her. She spun around with her hand over her mouth, eyes glassing over with tears.

Edward and the others were over there in a flash. All eyes went to Caden.

Ok, it was my turn. As soon as I reached her, Nessie flung herself at me, pressing her face into my chest. Her tears caught in my shirt. Holding her tight, I leaned over to see over the grass.

Though it was horrific, I was instantly pissed off. I knew who had done this. And I was pretty sure I knew why.

In the midst of the tall grass and weeds, a young male was sprawled out, limbs arranged neatly with his arms at his side and his knees together, like he was arranged that way after the attack. Strips of skin and meat were missing from here and there on his body. His eyes were closed, thank goodness. Blood covered him, saturated his clothes and slicked up his skin.

Carlisle lunged for him, the doctor in him wanting to heal and check on the wounded. Jasper grabbed him and shook his head.

A growl came out of me. "Caden, start explaining."

"Tristan," he said with his own growl.

"We need to call the police."

Caden shook his head. "He's not dead. Look, they left him here for a reason. It's a message. If we don't take him with us, Tristan will come back for him. No doubt he's recruiting." Caden's eyes met Edward's. "Right from your own backyard. And your kind have rules. I bet anything Tristan is looking to put unwanted attention on you."

"You couldn't possibly know that," Seth said.

Caden turned fast and furious. "Don't you underestimate how smart Tristan is. Right now, with him having the back up of a vampire army, he knows things about all of you. Never doubt that."

"Never underestimate your enemy," Jasper spoke up.

"Exactly."

"Wait, wait, wait. How do you know he's still alive? And why are we just standing here?"

Caden growled. "I know he's not dead because this is what Tristan does. He likes to cause pain, so while he's turning somebody, he does as much as he can. He's infuriatingly god at just barely keeping people alive. Not to mention, if you watch him for a minute or two, you can watch his chest rise and fall." We all looked toward the guy lying there in the grass. "Look, not one major artery was hit. Tristan knows what he's doing. So, we have a choice. We take him back to the house to be treated and finish healing, or we leave him here to let Tristan have him."

I scrubbed a hand over my face as the other held onto Nessie. If we took him back to the house, he could be a threat to us when he heals. But I couldn't just make the decision to leave him with a psychopath and have another wolf added to Tristan's pack.

In the end, it was Nessie who decided. She mumbled something against my chest but I couldn't understand her. Edward took in a sharp breath, though.

"What?" I asked still stroking her back.

She lifted up just enough to say, "I know him," in a small voice.

Caden's eyes widened. "How?"

"School. His name is Walker." Leaning further back, she met my eyes. "Remember that day you went to have a word with Luke?" When I nodded, she continued, "Walker is friends with him. He was there that day. But Walker is nice. He was always nice to me."

While Caden went on a cursing rant, I sighed. "He's gotta come with us. I can't just leave him to Tristan. Not to mention the elements. Who knows when the weather will go cold again."

"What about grampa?" Nessie asked.

"What do you mean?" Seth asked.

She shrugged. "If we keep Walker with us, his parents are going to go to Charlie for a missing child. We have to see if he can buy us some time." Her eyes went to Caden. "Caden, when he's healed and can shift, can he still be around his family? Can he go back to them?"

The other wolf was stalking around the clearing. I didn't think he was mad at us. More at Tristan. For all the trouble he was kicking up. Leah followed him like a shadow. She put her arms around him, stroking his neck. Slowly he calmed down, the tension in the small area dropping considerably.

The scrubbing of the face must be contagious because he did it, too. "Eventually. But he has to have complete control of his wolf or he would risk attacking them."

Edward stepped up. "Why don't we discuss this more at home? I'm sure Walker would like to be up off the ground."

"I'll get him," Emmett volunteered. He'd been ghosting around the clearing, making sure that nobody or nothing snuck up on us.

Emmett picked up Walker's bleeding, broken body as carefully as he could. Carlisle called ahead to house asking that Esme and Rosalie get the medical rooms set up. Once he was off the phone, he kept up with Emmett, taking vitals as we all trooped back through the woods. It was nearly midnight, now. The owls were high up in the trees, hunting for their next meal. The deer were all tucked in for the night while smaller rodents darted here and there around us. We all kept our eyes and ears out for anything bigger stalking us. Because this would have been the perfect time to ambush us, especially if Tristan wanted both me and Caden out of the way. Even with Edward here we'd be outnumbered.

It wasn't until we hit the clearing that the Cullen house as nestled into that we all took deep breaths. We were almost to the porch steps when the door was flung open. Shelby darted out to greet Seth. He met her halfway, scooping her up into his arms. But when she got a good look of the guy in Emmett's arms, her eyes went wide.

"Oh my god! Walker!"

She shimmied out of Seth's embrace to run around him. Her eyes filled with tears as her hand hovered over the male's dark hair.

"You know him?" Seth demanded. Jealousy as well as distaste threaded through his voice.

Shelby shot him an angry glare. "He's a friend, Seth. I went to prom with him both years. He's a good guy."

Seth didn't back down however. "Who also probably wanted to date you."

With a growl, Shelby whipped around. "It's none of your business, but yeah, he asked me out. I said no. I just didn't feel anything for him. I was waiting."

"For what?"

"For you, you dumbass," she nearly screamed. "Ugh! Let's get him inside." Marching forward, she pushed her mate out of the way of the path so Emmett could follow.

"Where do you think you're going?" Seth demanded as Shelby stormed up the porch steps.

"I'm going to go sit with him. No doubt he's hurting and going to be confused and scared when he waked up. You don't want to hear this, but we were good friends. He knows me and that familiarity could help him."

"I don't think so." He lurched forward but her glare stopped him.

"Don't you dare tell me that I can't take care of a friend. If one of your female friends was hurt, I wouldn't hold you back from helping her. Don't ever think you can tell me what I can and cannot do, Seth Clearwater." And then she marched off into the house.

When Seth made to follow his mate, no doubt to tell her he wanted her to go home, I stopped him with a hand on his arm.

"Seth, man, why don't you go up to the cabin? Chill off a bit. Let her stay with him. They were just friends. And if he wakes up soon, it would be good for him to see a face he recognizes. He may not recognize Ness. He only saw her for one year. I'll watch over Shelby."

I heard his teeth snap together as he clenched his jaw. "Is that an order?"

"Not yet. Don't make me make it one."

After a moment of a stare-down, he ripped his arm out of my grasp and went for the woods.

"Embry," I called. I knew he'd stayed with the females in the house while we'd gone out. When he came through the door, I said, "Go with him. Make sure he's safe and doesn't do something stupid."

As he loped off, Nessie pulled away from me. Her face was red and tear-stained. Before she could, I swiped the tears from her cheeks, and then pressed a kiss to her forehead. She hugged me around the waist and held on.

"Jacob, what is going on?"

"I don't know, sweetie. Why don't we go check on them and then we'll go home, ok?"

She nodded. I could practically feel her gather her strength as she pulled away again and took a deep breath. Squeezing my hand, she pulled me toward the house. Surprisingly, it wasn't as chaotic as I thought it would be. Rosalie and Emmett were missing, probably because Emmett needed a shower and to change clothes. Alice and Jasper were tucked into a corner. Alice's face was all scrunched up into a frown, her eyes focused on something not in this room. Japer was hovering near her protectively like he did every time she had a vision. Bella was in the kitchen with Esme. No doubt Edward was upstairs with Carlisle helping out with the medical stuff. Caden was missing, too. Leah sat in the kitchen while her male was up with Edward and Carlisle, watching over the process of them taking care of Walker. Shelby's voice drifted down the stairs, letting me know she was up there with the others.

I knew Shelby was safe. Nobody in this house would leave her alone in that room with Walker. Someone would always be with her. Seth just needed to cool off. He knew that Shelby loved him and wanted only him. He just didn't like that another male that Shelby knew and he didn't was going to be near her without Seth around. Seth wanted to stay near her and assert his claim on her around any male that had any doubts. But I doubted Walker would be in any mood to hit on any female once he woke up. The guy was probably in a lot of pain.

Ness and I made our way up the stairs to the first room with the hospital bed in it. Edward and Carlisle were moving around, sticking needles, wires, and tubes into the unconscious Walker.

"You were right," Edward said.

It took me a moment to realize he was talking to me. "About what?"

"He is in a great deal of pain. None of these wounds are fatal. The pain knocked him unconscious."

Edward moved and I saw that Shelby was sitting beside the hospital bed with a bowl of what I assumed was warm water and a rag. She was cleaning the blood, dirt, and grass from his skin gently. Now that his face was clean and hair brushed back, I recognized him. Sun-kissed skin, dark auburn hair, strong features. Classically handsome.

"Nessie was right, though," Edward continued. "We need to tell Charlie. This boy's parents will be missing him and going to the police. Charlie can't come over here and be blindsided by this. And we can't use the sick excuse to keep him away. He knows too much."

Nessie and I shared a look.

"I think Shelby should handle it," I said after a moment.

The entire room looked at me.

"Why? Shelby asked.

"Because you know him. Not to mention Charlie likes you. You know more of what Walker's in for. Before you say it, I know Caden does, too. But Caden doesn't know Charlie the way you do."

Caden moved away from the wall and headed for the door. "He's right. You handle the police chief. And now that our patient is all settled, I'm going to have a talk with our second in command."

"I've never seen him like that," Shelby murmured. "Is it because I'm pregnant?"

Caden stopped took a deep breath and turned around. "That could be part of it. Can I ask you something?"

Sighing deeply, she shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

"When the two of you are behind closed doors, what's he like? Does he act different?"

Shelby's expression turned cautious, as if the answer was yes, but she wanted to know if it was the same difference that others noticed. "What do you mean by different?"

Caden took in a deep breath and let it out with frustration. "Is he more dominant? Less…nice."

Shelby's wide eyes were the answer to his question. He nodded. "I thought so." Those amber, alien eyes met mine. "Let me go talk to him, and then I'll come back to explain what I think is happening. Is that alright?"

His asking permission let me know that he was acknowledging me as Alpha, which was good. Didn't want him thinking that he could take over. Though he was a dominant, I already had a second in command. Granted that second was having raging jealousy issues. Maybe it was good to have a backup for a backup.

I nodded. He was the creature that he was trying to change the rest of us into. It made sense that he go to talk to Seth. Caden had had a family once. I didn't know details, but I knew that he'd had a mate and a child with one on the way and that they'd been ripped away from him, slaughtered for their association with him.

"Yeah, go on. He wouldn't listen to me right now anyway."

Caden nodded and ducked out of the room.

Shelby looked like she was close to tears as she continued to gently clean up her high school friend.

Nessie and I shared a look before we both pulled up chairs to sit with her. Going back home could wait.

**SethPOV**

There was no way I could go into the cabin without smelling Shelby, and right now, I needed some fresh air. Currently, I was pacing at the edge of the lake. Across the expanse of water was Nessie and Jake's cabin. The lake should have been peaceful. Instead, it was dark and muddy, ripples washing up on shore from something breaking the surface. Felt like my head at the moment. Thoughts of Shelby standing next to that stranger, prom close, were like those creatures surfacing, the ripples casting out and crashing over my mind. These thoughts were irrational, I knew that. She loved me. I knew that, too. But just the thought of another man touching her, wanting to do the same things with her in the dark that I'd had the privilege of doing, made my blood boil.

Which was irrational. She was pregnant with my child. She knew I loved her, and I knew that she loved me.

_"I was waiting for you!"_

I knew she didn't mean that literally. She didn't know that she'd meet me specifically. But I knew what she'd meant. She'd been waiting for the kind of feeling she got from being around me, with me. It wasn't a conceited thought. That was just the way of the imprint. Some instinct told her that I'd be everything she'd ever need and had guided her heart to follow. For which I was thankful.

A rustle behind me had me spinning around ready to phase. It had been stupid to stay out here alone, in the open, with enemies somewhere in or around our territory.

But instead of an enemy, I found Embry standing there with his hands out, palms up.

Straightening up, I held out my hand to him. "Hey, man. What are you doing out here? Everything ok at the house?" My pulse had sped up but I tried not to show that I was worried.

He shook his head as he grasped my forearm. "Everything's cool. Jake just wanted me to keep an eye on you…just in case."

"Oh…well, thanks."

"Not a problem." He came to stand beside me to look out at the lake and shoved his hands into his pockets. "Seth, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure. G'head."

"What's it like to be imprinted?"

Well, that wasn't what I had been expecting. But I thought about the answer. Probably wasn't the one he wanted to hear since he wanted to imprint so badly, but I had to say how I felt.

"It's nerve-racking. I mean, you know what went down. Even though she didn't date him or feel anything for him like that, it still makes me see red just to think that she's in the same room, taking care of a guy that wanted what I have with her." I hesitated at what else was sitting on the tip of my tongue, but in the end, I went with it. Embry deserved the truth. We'd been friends since grade school after all. "But it's one of the biggest reliefs I've ever felt. To know that I'd been found by my soul mate had put me over the moon. I love her. I would do anything for her, even die for her. And now she's pregnant. With _my_ child. She privileged me by allowing me to be with her, to agree to have a part of me inside of her, growing. It's…It's a feeling beyond words, really."

To that, Embry had nothing to say. He just nodded and stared out over the lake. I was about to open my mouth to reassure him that his would come when-

"Why do you think I haven't imprinted yet? And be honest."

I hadn't realized I was going to lie, but ok.

"Embry, I really can't say. I don't know. But I do know that she's out there. Something will happen, some piece will fall and domino events in your life until you run into her."

"How do you know that?"

I shrugged. "That's the point. I _don't_ know. But it's what I believe." Mimicking him, I shoved my hands into my pockets and faced the lake, which was now calm once more. "What I wanna know is what the hell is wrong with me? The old me would never had treated Shelby like that, like I don't trust her."

"It's the wolf in you," an English accent said behind us.

Embry and I whipped around to find Caden leaning against a tree.

When I finally swallowed my heart back down, I said, "What are you talking about?"

"The animal in you is coming out. Male wolves are incredibly protective of their females, especially when they're pregnant. Even the prospect of an ex-mate in the hypothetical can make a male mental." His eyes narrowed at me. "It's not just that you've accepted the training. It's that you've embraced it. And want it. You want to learn to become more dangerous. You want to learn to use all the abilities at your disposal."

I fidgeted. To lose bits of my humanity was against everything my father had taught me, but to be taught to have and control that kind of power? To wield the abilities to _really_ protect my mate and young? I'd give up a hunk of my soul for that.

"It's not against the law to want to protect my family. From what you've told us, Tristan is a sadistic sociopath. Forgive me if I don't want that near my pregnant mate."

He held up his hands in surrender. "I never said otherwise. Trust me, I understand what it is to want to protect what's yours. Seth, you know about my past, my family. And I know the aggression you're feeling. When one of Alora's exes came into town and wanted to see her, just as friends, I nearly hunted the man down even though he knew she was pregnant with our first son and happily mated, or married as was the case. He'd even invited me to come along to make sure. The point in this story is that I let my aggression bleed over onto her and forced submission from her. It caused a huge rift between us. Now, here's the lesson: pick your battles. She loves you. You love her. He's a person of the past for her. And now, he's more than likely going to be part of this pack and he's going to need a familiar face."

I could feel the glare on my face and it felt alien. "So you're telling me to let him near her?"

Caden made an exasperated sound and then glared right back at me. "Use your head. He's near her right now, taking comfort from her. Though he's out cold, she's a familiar presence. And we need him under control if he wakes up." I must have made a move forward because Caden placed a hand on my shoulder. "Nessie and Jake are with her. She's not alone with him. What I'm telling you to do is trust _her_ to bust his balls if he tries anything. That's what you bruised. Her trust. That woman loves you and would never choose another man over you. Ever."

He pushed me back toward the lake.

"Think, Seth. Think through the rage. Don't end up like Jacob and Nessie when they fought. Cool off and think about it. You show up there and demand her to stay away from him, you're pulling the foundation out from under the house of trust you've built. Don't do that. I'm telling you from firsthand experience. I've always hated myself even though I apologized and she forgave me. Stay here, at the cabin with Embry. Give her space to show that you _can_ trust her. That's what she wants. This isn't about you, remember?"

We met eyes and stared at each other. After a few tense moments of Embry edging toward us as if he'd break us apart if we went after each other, I turned away to the ripple-less lake.

"You're right." My voice sounded dead even to me. Just the idea of sleeping alone in our bed made me want to just phase and run all night until my paws were nubs. "This anger isn't me. I won't let it control me and cost me Shelby."

"Good man," Caden said. "Learn from my mistakes."

There were a few heartbeats of silence like he was expecting me to say something. When I didn't, there was a rustle of leaves and then a heavy hand on my shoulder. Looking over, I found Embry nodding at me with respect.

"Keep your head cool, man. You're doing the right thing. Shelby will always come back to you."

"God, I hoped he was right.

**ShelbyPOV**

_That wasn't him. That wasn't Seth._

I kept repeating that as I sat next to the hospital bed that Walker was scarily still on. Carlisle assured me that he was just unconscious. He was just passed out from the pain. Once a steady stream of meds was in his system, he should come and go.

"Shelby," Jacob said from the other side of the room where he had Nessie in his lap, who had abandoned her chair for the warmth of him.

_Man, I wish Seth was here._

"Yeah?" I said instead.

"Seth's ok. You just caught him off guard. He's not used to you showing that much concern for a guy he doesn't know. It rattled him. That's all. Plus, Caden went to talk to him."

"That's right," Nessie said. "If anyone can talk sense into Seth, it's Caden."

"Absolutely. Just let him cool down-,"

"Was I wrong?" I asked in a whisper.

Nessie and Jacob shared surprised looks followed closely with confusion.

"I'm…what?" Jake asked.

Quietly, I turned the chair so that I was facing them. "What I mean is, was I wrong to contest him? Out of all the books and myths that I've read, nobody refuses a direct order from an alpha, a dominant. Not without it being a challenge to their authority."

Jacob sighed and came to kneel in front of me. He took both of my wringing hands in his. "Shelby, listen to me. One, we aren't normal wolves. Duh. We change into humans. Hell, we were human first. Two, we aren't normal werewolves either. That's more Caden's script. Look, of course Seth is going to be ridiculously overprotective now. It's not just you and him anymore. There's a third to your group now. One more person he's got to keep safe, to protect." He held up a hand as I opened my mouth. "Yeah, I know you can protect yourself. But you _are_ pregnant. You're vulnerable right now. Not to mention, he's the male. It's ingrained in us that _we_ protect the females and the children. The women keep us emotionally attached so that we learn to become bloodthirsty, but it's our job to protect. Even though I know that Nessie can protect herself, my first reaction is to put my body between her and any threat. And having an animal inside of us, even one that's more tame than that of Caden's and your type of werewolf, makes it that much stronger. So, please, don't read too much into it."

I squeezed his hands, nails biting into his skin. Luckily, he didn't seem to mind. "But Jake, he's today, he was…off. Something's up."

He nodded like he understood. "All of us are on edge. The training that we're going to go through is going to be strenuous on all of us. That kind of power being unleashed in us is something to be wary of, but all of us are ready to learn about the dangerous parts of ourselves. With us trying to bring our 'beasts' to the forefront in our human bodies, we'll be ten times more powerful. But like Caden said, we might have that second voice that we'll have to learn to control. What we're about to try to go through is close to conversion. Some would even call it an upgrade."

My voice cracked as I said, "I can't lose Seth to this. He's everything to me. The father of my unborn child. What if-,"

Jacob reached up to take my face in his hands. "Shelby. I won't let anything happen to Seth. If I have to beat him into the ground to get him to be himself, I will."

I gripped his wrists. "Swear it to me, Jake. Swear to me he'll still be mine once all this is over."

Those deep chocolate eyes were steady on mine when he said, "I swear on my mother's grave that I will do my best to keep him coming home to you, body and soul."

The relief that washed through me was surprising. I hadn't realized that I was depending on Jake and Nessie for support. Yes, Nessie, too. She'd gotten out of the chair to come around behind me, wrapping her arms around my shoulders.

Suddenly, the meaning of family became utterly clear. And blood had nothing to do with it.

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**Hey, hey, hey! Please Review! I love reading what you have to say. Love you guys, too! xoxoxoxoxo**


	21. Chapter 21

**Hey guys! Chapter 20 has arrived. I must say that I love this chapter, especially Jake's POV. Sorry it took me a few days to come back again. Been very busy with work and sleep. Embry lovers, you may very well like this chapter :)**

***Disclaimer***

**Please enjoy!**

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**ShelbyPOV**

The next morning, I woke up warm with the sun shining through the giant window-wall. Nessie and Jacob had tucked me in the recovery room next to Walker's room. Nessie had stayed with me, cuddling up close, stroking my back as I cried. Jacob had gone back to sit with Walker while I had my breakdown.

Now, I stretched out alone in the bed. It had felt weird going to bed without Seth curled around me. And now it felt weird waking up without him here. The thought made me want to start imitating a sprinkler again. But I held it back, stretched, and got out of the bed. I needed to check on Walker.

I'd slept in my clothes from yesterday, and I was surprised to find some of my clothes neatly folded on the chair sitting next to the door. Looking at them, I knew that each article of the pile was a favorite of Seth's, right down to the underwear. Slipping into them, I wondered if he'd left them. But no, it was probably Nessie. She was always thinking of ways to make others' lives easier.

As quietly as I could, I opened the door to the room Walker was staying in, Nessie's old room. To my complete surprise, again, I found that he was awake with the bed propped up. He was staring out the window at the woods behind the house.

"Oh my god, Walker! Does anybody know you're awake?" I asked as I rushed for the bed. His head whipped around with wide eyes.

Dimly, I had the thought that nobody was in here with him. Where were Jake and Nessie?

Walker opened his mouth to say something when-

"Edward and Carlisle know," said a low voice behind me.

Yelping with my heart in my throat, I spun around. Seth was standing against the wall in the shadow of the now open door with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Seth," I breathed. "What are-,"

"I came to sit with him. Jake and Nessie wanted to talk to Caden before the training started so I said I'd sit with him. That was a few hours ago. They're probably catching a little sleep. I called Edward and Carlisle as soon as his eyes opened. They're on their way. They went hunting."

His face looked as if he felt destroyed. Dark, sad as if he'd lost someone. I hoped he didn't feel like he lost me because he was far from getting rid of me.

I wanted to run into his arms, wrap myself around him, but that would make me seem desperate…Oh, fuck it. I was desperate. I dashed for him as fast as my feet could carry me and launched myself against him, hugging him as hard as I could. I tried to squeeze all my love into him. Because the truth was, I shouldn't have torn him apart last night. He was my male and was trying to protect me and the baby. Seth had no reason to be jealous of Walker, but some emotions, like phobias, could be completely irrational.

After a moment of me mentally begging, Seth's arms came around me, holding me tightly to him. I felt him dip down so that his face was pressed into my hair, his nose inhaling deeply, taking my scent into him.

"I love you," he whispered.

"I love you, too. And I'm so sorry."

Seth pulled back so that he could look at me. "For what?"

"You were just trying to protect me. I know that. But I didn't act like it. I just-,"

His fingers came up to my lips. "Hush. You were taking care of a friend. Do I like that he wanted to date you?" At that he glared over my shoulder at Walker. "No, I don't. Do I like you being near him without me? Definitely not." Looking back at me, he brushed the hair back from my face. "But sitting here, watching him, I realized you'd have acted the same way with Nessie if I'd tried to force you away from her. So, I'm sorry, too."

I leaned my face into his palm and smiled. "Apology accepted."

He smiled, and it was the most beautiful Seth-smile I'd ever seen. "You, too."

His lips pressed to mine gently as his hand moved toward my stomach. It was ended too soon with a throat clearing heartily behind us. Turning around, I found Walker with a concentrated look on his face as he tried to clear his throat. And suddenly, I realized he didn't have any water.

"Oh, shoot. Let me go grab a glass of water."

Before I could get one foot out the door however, Bella appeared in the hallway with a glass of water and a bendy straw. She handed it to me with a smile.

"Thanks."

Crossing the room, I felt Seth's eyes on me the whole time. But he didn't crowd me or order me not go near Walker. He was controlling himself. I knew that because I could feel the aggression and possessiveness roll off of him and spread throughout the room.

Walker took the water when I offered it to him and drank half of it with one pull. The relief on his face as he sank back against the pillows made me feel better. Pulling up one of the chairs in the room, I took the glass from him and set it on the table next to the bed.

"How do you feel?" I asked knowing it was a dumb question. I know how I'd felt after being attacked.

"Like-," he stopped, having to clear his throat. "Like roadkill."

I laughed. Yup, that was how I'd felt.

"It'll be over fast. I promise."

He settled back against the pillows, sighing in relief. "So, the Cullens, huh? This is where you ran off to?" I'd been kind of worried that he was gonna ask what I had mean by that.

Smiling, I smoothed the sheet in front of me. "I didn't run here. Bella and Edward Cullen came to get me. They took me away."

"Well, I'm glad someone did. You needed to get out of there. Now, are you going to introduce me to the guy glaring a hole through my head? Or will I die never knowing who killed me? And then you can explain why I'm here and patched all over with gauze."

"Oh, right," I said with embarrassment. "Um, Walker, that's Seth. He's my mate. Seth, this is Walker. A _high school friend,_" I said with emphasis.

Walker cleared his throat again as he nodded toward Seth. "Man, I don't have any eyes for her, ok? Yeah, I had a thing for her in high school. I mean, who wouldn't? She was a badass."

Seth's expression fought between fury and agreement. He settled on calm distaste. "Just so we understand each other, she's pregnant. With _my_ child."

Walker completely ignored the whole possessiveness thing and trained a glowing smile on me. "Really? That's great, Shelby. I always thought you'd make a good mom."

I laughed as Seth's eyes narrowed. It was easy to slip back into the easy conversation with him. We had a certain trust with each other even though we'd never be more than just buddies. Not even best friends, but he was someone I trusted implicitly. "Thanks, Walker. Seth and I are really excited about it. I mean, at first I was scared, you know, because of the whole 'my mom thing', but I'm good now. I know that I'm in a different place."

Walker's eyes went over my shoulder to my male. "You're good for her. I don't know you, but I do know that she'd have never been excited about another man's baby." Before Seth could answer, Walker looked back at me. "Now explain why I feel like I was skinned under these bandages. And what happened to me."

"You _were_ skinned," Seth said from the doorway. "As for what happened? Not sure if we can explain that one to you yet."

Something must have caught his attention behind me because Walker stopped with the question he was no doubt about to ask and widened his eyes. Looking behind me, I found Jacob and Nessie in the doorway, looking well-rested and sporting the loose bones that only a really good roll between the sheets could give a couple. They were both calm and clear-eyed, sure of themselves and of each other. Jacob's arm was wrapped around his mate, his fingers playing just under the hem of her shirt at her hip.

"Nessie," Walker said. "Wow. I knew I was in the Cullen house, but…"

She cocked her head to the side, looking confused. "But what?"

I shifted uncomfortably. "When you didn't come back for sophomore year, everybody had thought you'd died from being sick or had been shipped off somewhere else. And I couldn't say anything. I knew you'd still be here and that you hadn't been sick. I just hadn't known if I actually could say anything so I didn't. I figured you'd had a reason for not coming back."

"Oh." Her eyes went to Walker. "Nope, I'm perfectly fine. I just went for homeschool. Figured it was less dangerous to everybody's health, ya know?"

He chuckled. "Yeah." His eyes went to Jacob. "Luke was stupid to go after you the way he did, especially with, I'm assuming, your man around."

Jacob nodded. "Yeah. I wasn't then, but I am now." He walked into the room, leading Nessie, to loom over the bed. "So, tell me what you remember from last night."

Walker frowned. "I don't know. I just remember a frenzy and then, I was passing out thinking that for once I could see the stars."

"Go back to the beginning. What were you doing before you were attacked?"

"Bonfire. I was at a bonfire with all the guys from high school. One last goodbye before I went off to college. They were getting rowdy and it was warm out so I decided to just slip into the woods for a few minutes. Out of the corner of my eye, there was something moving, something big. When I turned toward it, I literally got blindsided. Something huge took me to the ground. And then…" He frowned again. Shook his head. "Pain. That's all I can remember. I tried to scream but something clamped over my mouth."

"Ladies, if you would please leave the room."

We all looked over to find Caden in the doorway. For once, Leah wasn't with him.

When Nessie and I didn't move, he glared at us. "Nessie, Shelby, please wait out in the hall."

"Why?" I demanded.

Looking at me pointedly, he said, "The full moon is two nights away. That's a little close."

"What does the full moon have to do with anything?" Walker asked, his eyes darting to each face in the room.

"I'll explain everything if the ladies go out into the hallway. I want the males in here."

Just before it clicked in my brain, Nessie's face registered her understanding. She came to me, gripped my hand, and we went out into the hallway in silence. All the males watched us as we went. Pulling the same look Caden had, I fixed Jacob with a pointed stare and then flicked my eyes over to Seth. Jacob gave a curt nod and then shut the door behind us.

**JPOV**

Going over to stand next to Seth, I could feel the control in him straining. He was trying not to go after Walker, trying to keep his cool. His mate was out of the room and out of danger should anything happen when Caden told Walker what was going to happen now. Caden had told me that there was a good chance the new werewolf could change even though he'd just been infected and the full moon was just nights away.

This was the perfect time to tell him. The girls were out of the room, no doubt next door with their ears against the wall. Most of the Cullens had gone hunting. And the Cullen property was swarming with my wolves, ready to be trained.

Walker arranged himself in the bed so that he was sitting up on his own. He tried to hide the pain but the tightness around his eyes and lips gave him away. "So what does the full moon have to do with anything?"

Caden went straight to the point. "You're familiar with werewolves, I take it?"

"Excuse me?"

"Werewolves," Caden repeated slowly. "Do I need to spell it for you?"

Walker's eyes narrowed. "I don't like you."

"Nor I you."

"You don't even know me."

"Precisely. Now answer the question."

Eyes rolled. "Of course I'm familiar with werewolves."

None of us said anything further. The three of us just stared at him, hoping he'd connect the dots from his attack to waking up in the Cullen house to hearing the word. And eventually, it did click.

Walker laughed. "Wait, are you saying you think that I'm-,"

"I don't think. I _know_," Caden interrupted. "I can smell the disease coming out of your pores."

"Disease? Like, what, an infection?" We stared at him again, which led him to continue his earlier train of thought. "So, you-_know_- that I'm going to turn into a giant dog at the full moon?"

"Yes," Caden said dryly. "That's what I'm saying. Welcome to the club."

Walker's eyes went from Caden to Seth to me. And stayed as his eyes roamed me.

He swallowed hard and gave a weak, forced laugh. "You guys are crazy. Next you're going to tell me that the Cullens are vampires."

Caden, Seth, and I shared a look that Walker caught.

He shook his head. "Oh, no. Vampires and werewolves do _not _exist. This is a joke. A bad one."

The look on Caden's face told me he was about to do something that I probably wouldn't like. Sure enough, he whipped forward to grip where Walker's throat met his shoulder. A particularly deep cut and tear had been made there, a good hunk missing. And Caden gripped and squeezed that hole.

"Does that feel like a joke to you?" he demanded as Walker screamed.

Immediately I moved in front of the door, knowing that Shelby and Nessie would hear it and come running. A moment later, the door tried to open. I leaned my back on it to keep it closed. There was no way either or both girls were going to move me.

"Seth?"

"Jacob?"

"We're fine," I said over my shoulder through the door. "We're ok. I promise. Go into the recovery suite."

"Jacob-,"

"Go, Nessie," I said in my Alpha tone. The command wouldn't necessarily work on her, but she'd know the voice and pull Shelby back. Relief came when I heard the door next to the one I was leaning on close.

"You…bastard," Walker panted out as he slumped against the bed.

"Caden, maybe we shouldn't-,"

"You feel that?" Caden demanded of Walker. "You feel that hatred, that anger? It wants to flood through you, fill out your skin, come to life. Do you feel it?"

Taking a few deep breaths, Walker glared at the other man. "That wasn't necessary, but yeah I feel it. What is it?"

"Your wolf. Right now, you are incredibly dangerous. That means that you have to stay here where I can watch you. The full moon is two nights away. You have a very high chance of turning."

Walker swallowed hard and finally looked rattled. "What if I don't believe you?" At Caden's move forward, he continued quickly. "Not about me getting attacked. I mean about the werewolves."

With a growl, Caden got up from the chair, went to the window and nodded, holding up a finger. Then he turned to Walker.

"Can you stand up?"

"I think so. Why?"

"I want you to come to the window, that's why."

Walker looked over to me and Seth. I nodded encouragingly. "Whatever he has planned, it'll help you understand. And we're not gonna let you go through all this alone."

Seth shrugged beside me. "I may not be all that fond of you, but Jake's right."

A long moment passed between the four of us before Walker scooted himself with winces and curses to the edge of the bed. Someone had put him in some loose pajama bottoms and a t-shirt. In a wobbly tilt, he tried to stand, but his knees gave out making his ass hit the edge of the bed. Walking over, I bent down to wrap an arm around his waist and then paused to give him a second to adjust to the fact that a strange man was all in his personal space. A couple heartbeats later, his arm slipped over my shoulders.

"On the count of three, ok?" When he nodded, I counted, "One…two…three, up we go." His teeth snapped together to grind as his lips turned into a tight line while I hoisted him up. "You good?"

He nodded.

"Just a second," Caden said as I started shuffle-walking with Walker.

The other wolf walked up to us when I stopped. Did I really want to stop? No. But the ball was in Caden's court. He knew more about the workings of the Children of the Moon than I did, so I had to let him handle this. His expression was softer as he reached out to Walker, who was flinching as the other man went to grip his neck again. This time when Caden gripped, there wasn't an ear-splitting scream, just a hiss and grunt.

And then the register of surprise.

"Doesn't hurt as bad as it did a few minutes ago, does it?" Caden asked softly. "By tomorrow night, all these cuts and missing bits will be nothing but pink scars."

Walker swallowed hard. "What are you going to show me?"

"Something that will make this real to you."

Finally, we made it to the window. The four of us looked out and down to the backyard where the wolves were mingling and pacing. At our movement, Morgan looked up from where she was petting a rather large dark grey, black-masked wolf. It came to me that this was the first time I saw, in person, Lucas in wolf form. I had to admit that he was quite striking. And freaking huge.

She nodded at Caden, who nodded an affirmation. Morgan's eyes moved over to lock with Walker's…and then she phased. A smaller light brown wolf stood next to her massive male as the same light brown eyes stared up at Walker. Lucas moved closer to Morgan, baring his teeth, protecting her.

"Holy…shit!" Walker tried to stagger back, but instead, his knees gave out suddenly and I struggled to catch him around the waist.

"Easy, big guy. Let's get you back to the bed."

We stumbled back to bed where he immediately collapsed. Seth, Caden, and I all gave him a minute to himself. His entire body shook as he forced himself to lie down and pull the blankets back over himself.

"So that's what's going to happen to me?" he asked unsteadily.

"Not exactly."

Caden and I shared a look as his hand disappeared behind his back. Closing my eyes, I knew what he was doing. The energy in the room changed as he shifted his hand into monstrous claws. The sound of breaking bones and tearing muscle had me sneaking a peek at Walker whose eyes were wide as he heard the sounds.

"What do you mean, 'not exactly'?"

Caden then launched into the whole explanation of the two different types of werewolf. And that he was going to be the type that was going to have it rough, like him. Like Shelby. And then, just as Walker was starting to relax and take it all in, Caden whipped out that hand of his.

Walker's eyes went wide again and he went to throw himself out of the bed. I caught his arm, shook my head, and forced him to stay.

"No, Walker. You need to hear this, to see this. Caden's going to help you. He's just trying to get you to understand."

"What…what the hell is going on?"

"Like I just said, we're different from Morgan and Jacob. Jacob's pack is genetically labeled. We are not. Remember that disease I told you I could smell on you? That's what we are: infected."

Walker swallowed hard. "So this is really happening."

"It is. And the full moon is two nights away."

"What about my family? My mom is going to be hysterical. My sister? My dad?"

Another look passed between us. I gave Caden the "tread carefully" glare.

"For now, we need you to stay here."

Walker leaned forward. "Just let me call them to let them know that I'm ok."

Seth shook his head beside me. "They already called Charlie for a missing child. Your cell phone wasn't anywhere near you when we found you. Your dad called Charlie saying that one of your friends found your phone in the woods."

"You're missing right now," Caden continued. "You need to stay that way. It doesn't matter that you're eighteen. What matters is that your parents are going to want you home. Technically, Charlie can't drag you back, but still. I need you here. Right now, your beast is calm, allowing you to heal because you have to share a body, but Walker, you're very dangerous, especially if you get agitated. Today, I'm going to try to train the Quileute wolves and I want you to be there. I'm going to try to turn them into something like me, something fast and deadly."

"My beast? You make it sound like I have an animal caged inside of me."

"Exactly. It's because you do. Your human body is the cage, and that animal is a force to be reckoned with. And since you, like Shelby, were infected by alphas, dominants, most likely you will be, too. It also doesn't hurt that you seem to be a dominant personality."

"So what are you about to train the other pack for?"

I was very interested in hearing this explanation.

"I am about to try to get the Quileute wolves to separate their beasts from their human selves. Meaning I'm going to try to get those wolves inside them to become the beasts they resemble instead of animal reflections of the human personality."

Walker looked to me. "And you _want_ to do this?"

"There's a lot you don't know. We have enemies in town. But for now, I want you down at the training and talking with Caden. We'll get you settled. Charlie knows about what's going on so he'll stop by here to see how you are. I and one other of my people are going to go with him to your place to talk to your parents. The cover story is…that you're sick," I said with a grin. "And are quarantined to the rez, hence the presence of myself and Embry."

Seth stiffened beside me. I turned to him.

"I want Embry because I know how important this training is to you. Plus you need to get used to him. Get to know him. Help Caden when you can."

He nodded. "I get it. It's cool."

"What are you? Like, the pack leader?" Walker asked me.

I turned back to him and stood a little straighter. "Yeah. In my kind of wolf, I'm called the Alpha. Seth is my second. He's a dominant alpha, but beta to me."

"I thought alpha and dominant were the same thing."

Caden laughed. "In my and your world, they are. Alpha male and dominant male are the same, the same…class so to speak. But Jacob was born into the title of leader, so he's the only Alpha. Seth is just dominant."

"Oh." Walker nodded. "That makes sense. I think."

"Just know that I'm in charge and Seth is right behind me. Caden is part of my pack but he's the expert on your type of wolf. In those matters, he's in charge."

"Let's put it this way, most of us are dominant males and females, but betas to Jacob since he's the president of our little organization. And if I were to have a pack of my own, and at this rate with people getting infected I just might, I would be the alpha male, the pack leader. The way _our_ hierarchy works is the same as all the books you've read. You challenge each other to climb the ranks. Someone of my kind wants to challenge me for pack leader, that's their right. If they kill me, they win. But those are rules we'll get to later. Right now, you rest. You've had a long morning. We'll start the training later in the afternoon."

Caden, Seth, and I went for the door when Walker called out, "Hey, Seth."

My second turned back around with a deep breath. "Yeah?"

"I did have a thing for Shelby a long time ago. And I told her so that if I started acting strange, she'd know why. I don't know what she told you, but I didn't ask her out. She probably thought I was when I told her I liked her, but I wasn't. I knew she wasn't interested. But keeping her as a friend was more important to me than keeping my feelings to myself and possibly hurting her with my frustration."

All it seemed that Seth could do was blink. I hit his shoulder with mine and smiled when he turned around.

"Oh," he managed to get out. "Just friends?"

"Just friends. And I'm glad she found someone to protect her. I always felt shitty that I couldn't. I wanted to, but I had no pull to do anything."

Seth nodded. "That's good to know. I'll come check on you later and get you when we start the training."

"Thanks."

Twenty minutes later, Embry and I were joining Charlie on the front yard of Walker's house. It was nice, light grey two-story with black shutters and white trim. A wraparound porch had two swings and a few rockers on nicely maintained wood. The all American jock's house.

Charlie opened the screen door so that he could knock on the solid door behind and then closed the screen once more. A moment later, a young female opened the door. She was probably a senior in high school, not much younger than Nessie, with long blond hair and bright, ice blue eyes. A totally different picture from her brother. I'd expected a dark beauty, a female version of Walker. Instead, I got Barbie times a thousand.

"Chief Swan. We were just wondering when you'd get here."

"Patricia, how ya doin', hun?"

Her smile, when it came, was bright white. "Please, Mr. Swan, call me Tricia."

When she moved to open the door for Charlie and he went into the house, Embry's breath caught as he got a look at her. Shooting a look at him, I also put a question in my eyes. The girl was stunningly gorgeous, and I didn't know if that's what his reaction was for or…something else.

When she smiled at the two of us in invitation into the house, I gripped Embry's arm before he could get near her.

I smiled back. "We'll just be a second. I need to speak with him." Charlie gave me a look and I shook my head as I dragged Embry off the porch.

"Dude, let me go," Embry growled.

Ignoring him, I dragged him all the way to Charlie's cruiser and whipped him around. "Are you serious? Did you just imprint on her?"

The word seemed to have an effect on him. He shook his head and blinked at me. "I…uh, damn. I think I did."

"Son of a bitch," I said under my breath.

"Hey, watch your language," he hissed.

When I glared at him, he jerked his chin over my shoulder. Turning around, I found the girl, Tricia, standing behind me on the walkway.

"It's ok. I've heard worse. Luke was terrible around me."

A low growl left Embry. I shot a glare at him. He coughed obnoxiously. Great. He was going to be a pain in the ass about this.

"We were just about to come in. You didn't have to wait for us," I said as nicely as I could.

She shook her head, her long blonde hair flying around her shoulders. "I wasn't waiting. I wanted to talk to you without my parents around. They don't understand how Walker is. He and I are best friends. Can I ask you something, and you be honest with me?"

I sighed. "You're about to ask me a really hard question, aren't you?"

"Is he actually sick?"

Embry and I shared a look. Yup, that was the hard question.

She leaned forward, putting a hand on my forearm. "I don't believe that he is, not like that."

"What do you mean?" Embry asked coming up to push me out of the way so she wasn't touching me anymore. Yeah, like I was going to go after her.

"I mean that something…weird has been in the woods lately. And I know that Luke found my brother's phone in the woods."

"Something weird? Like what?" Embry asked with a softness to his voice that I had never heard from him. I stared at him.

She shrugged. "I don't know. Something big." Biting her lip, she grabbed a hunk of hair, brought it over her shoulder, and started to play with it. Then she shrugged. "I don't know. My friend, Brailey, and I…we have a spot in the woods, a clearing that we like to go to. You know, to get away from the 'rents. Anyway, we were out there one day last week and…"

"And what?" Embry asked. "You can tell us. Trust me. We've heard a lot weirder than whatever you have to tell us."

"That's very true," I said glaring at him. What I really wanted to do was slap the back of his head and roll my eyes. Was I really this way with Nessie? God, gag me with a spoon. It was no wonder Morgan lit my ass up like Christmas.

Tricia wasn't stupid. She saw how Embry was acting and how I was reacting. A small smile played over her lips. And then she got serious as she thought about whatever crossed her mind.

"We both felt like we were being watched. Needless to say we didn't stay long." She braided her hair a little more while Embry and I shared another look. And then she snapped back. "Wait, why are you asking me about that? You think that has something to do with Walker? Please, tell me he's ok. Just tell me he's alive."

This time it was Embry's arm she grabbed onto. I was quite surprised he didn't turn into a puddle of wolf-goo right here on the walkway.

But he didn't lose his head. He looked to me for permission to answer the question. I nodded with a warning in my eyes.

He turned back to her and took her hand in his. "He's alive." She visibly sagged. "He's with us, but that's really all I can tell you."

She nodded and squeezed his fingers. "Thank you. That's enough."

"Patricia, can you-,"

"Please call me Tricia," she interrupted me.

I cleared my throat. "Tricia. Could you maybe take us to that clearing that you were talking about?"

She looked back at the house as if making sure that her parents weren't there watching her.

"It's a bit of a hike, but yeah. Just let me go put on some tennis shoes. The weather's been so warm that I've been going without shoes at all."

After she took off for the house, Embry turned to me. "Are you sure that's a good idea? What if we get attacked? They could be waiting for us, to ambush us."

"Embry, if I even catch a whiff of something off, if my gut even twitches, we're so out of there, ok?" I put a hand on his shoulder. "Trust me. I know what it's like to be imprinted and have that imprint put in danger. But we need to see the area. It could help us."

He took in a deep breath and nodded. "Ok. Yeah." He shifted uncomfortably.

"What?"

"This feels weird to be honest."

That made me laugh. "I know. You don't feel like yourself."

"Yeah."

"And you won't until she knows…and accepts you. But if you play your cards right, and I _will_ help you, she will." The sound of a door closing brought us around to find her in a pair of low-hung jeans, a flannel shirt, and tennis shoes. When she saw Embry watching her jog down the porch steps, she bit her lip and tried to hide a pleased smile. I clapped him on the back. "Doing well already," I whispered.

I wasn't entirely surprised at the elbow in my ribs.

**RPOV**

Shelby was antsy. And it was making me antsy.

"Just go talk to him, Shelbs," I said exasperatedly while she paced.

She sighed. "I don't want Seth to be mad at me. He doesn't want me near Walker."

Seth had gone down to talk to the pack about the whole training thing. He'd seemed calmer and more sure of himself when he came to check on us before heading downstairs.

"Shelby."

Speaking of Seth. He filled the doorway, staring at his mate.

"Walker and I are good. You can go see him if you want."

Shelby's eyes narrowed. "Just like that?"

He smiled, seemingly back to his old self. "We came to an understanding. Just go sit with him. You and Caden were right. He needs a familiar face. Jacob and Embry went to talk to his family. He's cut off from them right now. The two of you might help."

"What about you?"

I didn't think the two of them knew it, but they were slowly inching toward each other, as if pulled by the gravity of the other. Lately, I'd started noticing that with all the imprinted couples. It was even worse if both of them were wolves. If one half of the couple was in the house, they knew where. If they didn't, they went to find the other. It was that draw to keep the other half you safe, the other half of your soul.

"I'm going back downstairs. Jake and Embry should be back soon, and then we can all get started."

Finally, they reached for each other. Seth pulled her close and inhaled her scent. She hugged him back hard, burying her face in his chest. Smiling, I thought to myself that they looked normal, like the couple they'd been in the beginning. There were no harsh lines on Seth's face, no dominant bullshit or jealous stupidity. Just a male caring for his pregnant female. Just Seth with Shelby.

They shared a kiss, another few words, and then Seth said bye to both of us and left.

Shelby and I shared a look before going for the door next to us. When we knocked, Walker told us to give him a second. Half a minute later, he opened the door wearing faded jeans and a black t-shirt.

His smile was bright white in his tan face. Where he'd gotten that skin, I had no idea.

"Hey, guys. Come on in."

Before we could step foot into the room, Dad appeared out of nowhere beside me.

"Hey, Dad. What's up?"

Walker's expression was priceless as he looked between me and Dad. We looked like we could be the same age brother and sister. Except for the eyes.

Dad leaned over to kiss my forehead. "Esme and your mother have made lunch if the three of you would like to go downstairs. We can talk down there." He glanced at Walker. "That is, if you're ok with it."

"Uh, sure. I'm actually starving and I could definitely use a little exercise."

Dad left us as we made for the stairs. Walker was still moving stiffly.

"So, Nessie, can I ask you something?"

"Go for it."

"You're different, aren't you? I mean, Jacob, Seth, and Caden are different. But you're different than that different, right?"

I hesitated. Humans knowing about vampires is dangerous. But then again, Walker was no longer human.

"Yeah, I am. All the Cullens are."

We made it to the kitchen just as mom and Esme were putting the food on the table. Both of them treated Walker as if he'd always been part of the family.

"I made a joke about the Cullens being vampires if the Quileutes were wolves." He cleared his throat as the room froze. "That wasn't a joke was it? I hit it on the head."

I looked to Mom and Dad where they stood against the counter, glancing at each other. Mentally, I said, _Dad, why don't you handle this. You're better at it than I am._

He nodded with a smile at Walker. "Yes, you were right. But we're not the…traditional type of vampire."

At Walker's arched eyebrow, Dad went into the whole explanation, even going into my story and explaining that I was a hybrid. That my growth had been so fast that I'd had to be pulled out of school.

Once Dad was finished with everything, Walker just sat there staring at his plate, taking it all in. Eventually, he lifted his eyes to stare at me. I knew he was studying, comparing me to Mom and Dad, trying to see what about me was human and what was vampire.

After about five minutes, Caden appeared in the kitchen doorway that led to the backyard.

"Jacob and Embry are back. When you're done, come outside. The training is about to begin."

And then he was gone. Shelby and I glanced at each other, both worried for our males. The three of us stood up and went for the door, Shelby taking my hand. Walker held the door for us, and then followed us out.

A part of me hoped this training worked.

Another part of me was terrified.

* * *

**So, what did you think? Remember, I LOVE reviews. They keep me writing. More importantly, they keep me WANTING to write, so please keep them coming. And also remember that I don't mind PM's. Go for it! Love you guys xoxoxoxo**


	22. Chapter 22

**Soooooo, chapter 21 is here. Finally. I'm as exasperated as you guys. Now, I do expect some heavy and a lot of questions on this chapter because as I told one reader it may be kinda slightly confusing. I mean, I understand it because it's in my head and thankfully, I understand what's in there...most of the time. So any questions you have at the end, please don't hesitate to ask them. Oh, and another reader told me that Nessie and Jake were like the pack parents. That's exactly true. Alphas have to take care of their people. Hopefully, this chapter will help you see that come out a little. Ok, enough rambling.**

***Disclaimer***

**Please Enjoy!**

* * *

**JPOV**

Embry was ridiculously pansy-like. And extremely protective. Tricia barely walked throughout our "hike" up to the clearing. He was too overbearing, staying close to her, helping her around roots and over fallen limbs. She'd been perfectly capable of navigating since she'd done it a million times with her friend, and I had tried to pull him aside to tell him to back off a little before he freaked her out. She was only seventeen and if she called foul, he could get into trouble with Charlie and her parents. But he wouldn't listen. He'd shaken me off and went after her. Luckily, she didn't seem to mind.

The trip to that clearing told us very little that we didn't already know. Except for the fact that there were several different scents that we hadn't caught before. More members of Tristan's pack were coming near Forks. Too close for comfort. And there were about ten new scents that I'd smelled, just in my human form.

Ever since Jasper had asked if we could be trained, I'd been trying to allow the wolf in me some freedom. For months, I'd had the notion that he was a separate being, his instinctive voice telling me to take Nessie when she'd been fertile or after she'd started having her period. And I'd also reconsidered that it wasn't my gut that guided me, but the wolf picking a direction for me.

I had a feeling that Tristan's training was about to give my wolf a little more freedom. Which meant that I'd have less control. I'd gone to him with my fears but he assured me that since I was the Alpha, the dominant of dominants of my pack, that I would be able to rein in the beast. Assuming learning all these things would change my wolf's demeanor. There was a possibility that we'd stay the same, just with some fancy new tricks.

As soon as we made it to the Cullen clearing, Shelby, Nessie, and Walker came out the kitchen door. Caden and Seth had their heads bent together with Morgan and Lucas still in wolf form circling them. Nessie came to me, wrapping her arms around my waist and tucking her face into my chest. She was just as nervous as I was. As Shelby went to go stand with her man, Walker came over to us.

I held my hand out, which he took. "How ya feelin', man?"

"A little stiff, but better. Got some food. That seemed to help." He fidgeted on his feet and I knew what he was going to ask. "So, how's my family? My sister?"

I nodded and stroked Nessie's back. "They're good. Worried, but good."

"Tricia knows I'm not sick, doesn't she?" he asked with a smile.

I laughed. "Oh, yeah. She practically told me that you weren't. You're parents on the other hand took it rather well. They all just hope that you make it through."

"I've never been sick a day in my life so my parents are just hoping that I'm ok, but Tricia knows me. She knows I'm not sick."

"She also showed us the place her and her friend go to get away. She said there was something weird in the woods that's been keeping them from going up there."

The color drained from his face as he, no doubt, thought about his sister in the woods with what attacked him. "Did you find anything?"

"Yeah, it was-,"

"Alright, everyone," Caden said from his huddle group. "Let's get started now that Jacob is back. And as you all probably know by now, Walker was attacked last night and will be joining us." Amber eyes turned to me. "Jacob, did you want to tell the pack what you found at Walker's or wait?"

I cleared my throat and stepped forward, leaving Nessie with Walker and Shelby, so that I could stand in the ring of wolves with Caden.

I raised my voice so everyone could hear but spoke directly to Caden. "There were several different scents. More than we were all used to. At least ten different. None were Tristan or Nyla. Or any other that we've scented before, or at least, none that _I've_ scented. They're getting closer and closer to Forks. That means that we can't just keep defending ourselves. We've got to go on the offensive and find them before they get into the town and start ripping apart citizens like Walker."

"Jacob is right. Bodies will start piling up. We've talked to Charlie to keep his ear to the ground. We've convinced him to come to us if something weird comes up. Now, I've promised to teach you all, or at least try, to tap into abilities that my kind of werewolf has. It may not work, but we'll start with Jacob. He's the most aggressive, the most dominant of you lot. If he can tap into it, maybe he can get the rest of you to do so as well." He turned to me. "Alright. Ready?"

Taking a deep breath and another look at Nessie, who smiled encouragingly, I nodded, squaring my shoulders.

"Now, this may seem stupid, but we're going to start with your senses in your human form. Shelby has already had a taste of this training. We're going to try to break the barrier between your wolf and human so that the animal is just under the skin, feeling, hearing, seeing all that you do. Close your eyes."

Feeling stupid, I closed my eyes with the eyes of my pack on me and took a deep breath. Another warm night had surprisingly fresh air rushing into my lungs as well as the musky scent of wolf.

"That's right, Jake. Take it all in without your eyes. What do you hear? Smell? Feel?" Caden's voice was soft and far away as if he'd taken steps away from me, toward the crowd of wolves.

At first, I could just hear the wind in the trees and Nessie's heartbeat. I was attuned to that sound since I slept next to it every night and she was my mate. But then I thought about what Morgan had said to me on the rez. I was the Alpha, the dominant of the dominant, the king of the pack. But wolves were also the top of the food chain in the forest; therefore, I was the king of these woods. These were my home field advantage.

"Good. You've centered yourself. Now, look inside yourself. See your wolf. Bring him up to just behind your skin. Think of yourself as a glove."

Another deep breath and I moved my senses inward, looking. In my mind, a large russet wolf was curled up in an environment that my head had completely made up. He was curled up, waiting to be needed. He lifted his head as I suddenly appeared in the pathway that my subconscious had created. And as if he didn't recognize me, he lithely leapt into a crouching position, hackles raised, teeth bared.

As if coming from down a long tunnel, Caden's voice called out to me. "Easy, Jacob. You've never done something like this before and he's not going to recognize his own human form."

_Clearly,_ I thought.

This was freaking weird anyway. I knew that my physical body was still standing in the woods behind the Cullen house. But mentally, the…soul of myself was turned inward, toward a wolf that didn't recognize me as the outward shell it used to get around.

Slowly, I lifted my hands in surrender. And then had possibly the most brilliant thought I've ever had. If he and I shared the same body, then we shared the same mental processes. That meant if I thought something in my own mind, he should be able to hear it and process it the way a wolf could.

"Easy, big guy. We're on the same side. I'm your human form."

Those dark chocolate eyes that were exactly like mine narrowed as his animal mind processed what I'd said. Blatant disbelief colored the expression on his wolf face. How I knew that, I had no idea, except we shared the same form all the time. Of course I'd know the damn expression.

Ok, what was something we had in common that he'd believe? After a heartbeat or so of thinking, I wanted to slap myself.

Nessie.

"Nessie," I repeated out loud. "Renesmee?"

A vicious growl came out of the animal, teeth bared once more as he lurched toward me. I could feel his movement in my physical body, moving jerkily with the wolf's movements.

"Easy! Easy!" Jesus, how the hell had we survived this whole time in the same body together? He was primal and vicious. "She's our mate. You and I? We share a body. I'm just your human form. I'm what you use to be with her. She looks human, right? Therefore you can't mate with her in your form. You have to use me."

Another idea came to me. We shared a mind. I didn't need to talk. Trying to pull Nessie's gift into my body, I thought really hard about her. Memories of me and her together in my human form. Anytime we were in a mirror together, or pictures of myself.

Wait a minute. How did I remember what being in wolf form was like, but he couldn't remember me there?

"It's because you were setting him free. He thought your voice was his and you trusted the wolf not to cause trouble." Caden's voice was far off but the wolf heard it and went on red alert again. Dammit, my physical body must be echoing my thoughts.

"Easy, boy. You and I are the same. I promise that I'm no threat to you." The wolf's eyes came back to me, wary but open. After a long moment of just staring at each other, he lowered himself to his belly. "That's right. We're the Alpha, you and me. We control the pack, but right now, I need your help. In my human form, I don't have your abilities, and I need them. Nessie needs them. She and the other females are in danger. The town and the rez are vulnerable. We have to do something. I'm willing to give you power inside of my human self, but I need you to understand that we still have a job to do. No being an asshole about it."

Slowly, as I'd talked to my wolf-self inside my own head, I'd inched closer and closer to him, keeping my voice even and strong. Something told me that I had to assert my dominance over him. I was his ability to interact with the world, with Nessie. He needed me, and right now, I needed him. Caden had been right. Our wolf selves were being hindered by our human selves. This change needed to happen.

"What do you say? Will you help me? Help Nessie? We have to keep her safe. I know you agree with me on that."

More staring, more waiting, more holding my breath. Eventually, he got up onto all fours, the same height as my human body, which was pretty damn tall. Or was I just smaller being inside my own head? God, all this was confusing. Slowly, he made his way over to me, eyes meeting mine.

And then he licked me.

Yup, just licked me from chin to forehead.

Now I knew how Nessie felt. Reaching out, I stroked the space between his eyes.

"I need you to follow me back out, but stay behind my skin. Do you understand? My human self has to use you the way you use me to be with Nessie, ok? I have to tap into your heightened senses. You think you can do that, stay just under the skin?"

His big brown eyes closed as I stroked his muzzle, but he growled in what I assumed was an affirmative that he understood. Ok. This was good. Turning around so that I was standing shoulder to shoulder with the giant wolf, I looked out at the pathway that my subconscious had built.

The wolf and I looked at each other.

"I guess we follow the yellow brick road."

Together we stepped forward and walked about five huge strides before an extremely bright white light engulfed us, and I was thrown back into my physical body.

Breathing hard, I went to my knees in the dirt. Behind my eyelids, I could still see the images of me and the wolf standing just at the edge of that walkway, waiting. The wolf had moved ahead to put on the mask of my body. The shift in personality change was nearly painful so I just knelt there in the dirt while my wolf filled out the glove of my human body, just as Caden had suggested.

Immediately, everything changed. I could hear every single heartbeat around me, even Shelby's baby's, along with all the animals near us. The scents were overwhelming, so many of them. Sweet, sour, disease, salty. I could now also hear the blood running through veins at different speeds and tones. I could also tell who was in wolf form, though I didn't know how.

"Jacob!" a voice I knew well shouted. The sound was shrill in my ears with Nessie so close to me, like a whistle blowing right beside me.

And though it pained the human side of me, the wolf just wanted it to shut up. With a growl, I felt my body turn in her direction and stare at her with eyes that weren't mine. We heard her breath suck in and go down into her lungs, her blood pump faster as her heart worked harder.

"Easy, Nessie," Caden said in a soft tone. "He's very disoriented right now. His wolf is just under the surface."

Slowly, just as I had with the wolf in my head, she eased her way over to us. My wolf and I both could see her try to gather herself, try to calm her heartbeat and appear strong. The irritation in the wolf died down in the face of his love and approval for her. Our alpha female was being strong, not just for me or her, but for the entire pack. When she stretched out a hand, the wolf inside me turned my head so that my cheek rested in her palm.

"It's just me, Jake. You know me."

A purr came out of my chest.

And then a scent hit me hard and strong. The scent of a summer storm off the ocean. Nessie's arousal. But it was ten thousand times stronger. I could smell the hormones running through her body, lighting up and heating up certain areas of her body. The wolf immediately wanted to push her face first into the dirt and mate with her the way animals do.

And I must have made a move toward her because Caden said, "Jacob, do you really want to mate her right here in front of your entire pack?"

The wolf was all for that idea. He wanted the entire pack to watch as we took our mate so that there was no doubt in their minds that we were Alpha and had complete dominance over our mate and the pack.

"Jacob," Caden said with a warning.

Looking over, I found that my hands had roamed down to Nessie's jeans, fingers searching for the button. Closing my eyes, I forced myself to grip her hips instead and breathed.

"Jacob, you need to bring your human-self to the surface a little more. I didn't tell you this because I actually didn't think that this would work, but your human side needs to be in control around your mate, especially since she's not one of you. The wolf is dangerous to her."

At that, the human in my mind lost the little control it had been gaining. The wolf turned my body around and snarled at Caden. He took offense of anybody thinking that he'd hurt his mate.

_But Caden's right, _I whispered in my head. _Taking Nessie like this is wrong. It would be different if she was one of us, but she's not. She'd be mortified if you force me to do this to her. She wouldn't want us. Is that what you want?_

In my mind, the wolf next to me shrank down with a whimper.

_That's right. She's mostly human. She doesn't have the animal instincts that we do. Right now, I need you to help me protect her. We can't do that if we're mating her._

The wolf growled, both in my head and in my body.

In my head, I stroked the wolf's shoulder.

_Maybe later, if she'll have both of us at the same time, we'll be with her. _When the wolf perked up in my head, I pointed a finger at him. _But it's her choice. Remember? No being an asshole?_

In my head, the wolf huffed and sat back on his haunches. All of this was metaphorical of course. I was still conscious inside my body but it was as if I could just close my eyes and picture me and a giant russet wolf standing shoulder to shoulder behind my eyeballs watching everything, two pilots switching control of my body.

When I opened my eyes again, the wolf was still just under my skin. I could feel myself stretched out, a new presence filling up the empty spaces.

Nessie was watching me worriedly. I mustered up the most Jacob-y grin I could find and flashed it at her. Her features softened as she leaned in to press her lips chastely to mine. The wolf caused another purr but he kept his act together and let me be in charge of being with her.

A throat cleared behind us. "Jacob, shall we get started?"

Shelby came forward to take Nessie's hand and pull her back to the house. I could feel the wolf's need to snarl at the intruder, the one wanting to take our mate away from us. But again, I reasoned with him, thinking that Shelby was friend and we had a job to do. We couldn't get distracted right now. I held the snarl back by force of will alone as the wolf inside me calmed down.

Ripping myself and the wolf away from Nessie, I turned around and stood up straight.

There must have been an outward sign of what was going on because all of my wolves backed up with a gasp. Those of the pack in wolf form dropped down low to the ground with whimpers.

Caden nodded with respect. "Good. You seem to have control so far."

"We've come to an understanding," I said in a voice that was deeper than normal.

"Sounds like the Alpha has more important things to do than chase his mate," Caden taunted.

We didn't take the bait. Instead, I looked straight at Morgan who seemed to feel my eyes on her. Her light brown eyes looked up to me.

"We do." And then I looked back at Caden. "Now, teach me something."

"Alright. Look at me and tell me what you see."

Thinking this was a joke, I laughed. "I see a tall, blond werewolf."

Caden marched over to me with a serious face, clapped his hand over the nape of my neck and forced my nose to his.

"Don't get cocky. You think just because you and your wolf have an agreement to share a body that you now know everything? You will take this seriously. What I'm teaching you will save not only your life but your mate's."

The wolf wanted to rip him apart where he stood, but Caden was right. Taking a deep breath, I beat back the wolf just enough to leave me in charge.

"That's better." Caden turned around and stalked off. "Now, look at me and tell me what you see."

I must have stared at him for about three heartbeats before we all figured out nothing was happening. I just saw Caden.

"Use the wolf's eyes but stay in charge. Call into service what you need from him. Right now, he's your arsenal. You pick the weapon to use."

Closing my eyes yet again, I concentrated on what my vision was like when I was phased out. It was sharper, more focused. But more importantly, everything had shiny detail to it, a sort of outer layer that wasn't there in human form.

When I locked onto the image of that detail, I opened my eyes.

"Holy shit," I breathed.

Everybody standing in the clearing now had that shiny detail about them, but in the form of shapes surrounding their bodies.

"They're called auras. These will greatly help you in figuring out who's been where and when. If you notice, they all have different colors to them. I call it a color signature that's only specialized to that one person."

Looking at Caden, I found that he had ghost of grey smoke hazing around him. As he moved, it moved but always came in the form of a wolf, almost like he was standing inside of the ghost of his other self. I stared out at the pack and found that they all had the same thing, in different colors. Variations of the basic colors were suited to each pack member. Surprisingly, Morgan's was a pale purple-pink. Out of curiosity, I looked over to Nessie.

And my breath caught. Her aura was nothing but haze, no shape. But it was the color that had me almost on my knees. It was the most gorgeous shade of golden-orange. The color of sunset on the beach. The kind that fades into pink and purple. It suited her beautifully. The color was strong but still feminine.

Somebody behind me, probably Caden, clapped his hands and laughed.

"Alright, now we're talkin'." Yup that was Caden. "Ok, guys. This is the point I want the rest of the pack at before we all leave."

When I turned back to Caden, the smile on his face terrified and thrilled me at the same time. I was weaponized, to a point, now.

"Wait, before we start. How is this a good weapon, seeing auras?" I asked.

Caden's grin got wider. "Excellent question. You see the color on everyone? That leaves a trail, a color trail. If you know the color of whom you're chasing, then you know who you're after. Now you can differentiate instead of chasing shadows. You'll know who and what you're after."

"Why didn't you teach me that?" Shelby asked.

"Because your senses were already heightened. You and your wolf were already in a perfect communion. I wanted you to hone what you already had. Now, tonight, you'll learn with the rest of them." Then he looked back to me. "Jacob, you and I will split up and work with them. Now that you know the process, explain it the best you can."

As he took off for Morgan and the group gathering around her, Seth came to stand in front of me. His aura was the darker green to Shelby's non-surprising light green color.

"Show me," he demanded.

This was probably going to be easier for him than it was for me. Seth was on edge lately, aggressive, just like the wolf. The two of them were already connected. All he had to do was cement it.

"Close your eyes. Concentrate on that other voice that you always fight with. With me, I saw a made-up landscape where the wolf was waiting to be used."

Giving him a few minutes to get his bearings inside his own head, I looked over to our females. Nessie was holding Shelby's hand. Both of them were watching us with worried expressions. The urge to take Nessie rose up inside me again, but I beat it back, telling the wolf it wasn't time.

When her eyes met mine, I knew she saw it. She saw the other presence inside me, watching her, wanting her. For a few moments fear and confusion fought across her face. And then her eyes roamed my body, and heat replaced the other two. When her eyes met mine again, an answering heat came out of her body, something I could actually feel against my skin.

Abruptly, another heat seared my skin, but it was coming from Seth. Looking over at him, I saw him staring at me, his chocolate eyes alien in a familiar face.

"Alright, Seth. Bring the wolf just under your skin, but don't phase. Think of yourself as a glove. You're the wolf's way of interacting with the world, so you have to stay in charge or he'll try to control your body."

A deep growl crawled up his chest. The animal was taking over, pissed off at my teachings.

"Seth, control it. Shelby is watching you. Do you really want to scare her? Make her think you're out of control? I know you're in there. Push him out of the way. Put yourself ahead of him."

Those alien eyes turned toward Shelby, who looked terrified as she watched her mate turn into something he'd never been.

Her fear must have been the turning point, because Seth blinked rapidly and shook his head. "Jake?"

"Yeah, man, I'm here."

His eyes roamed around the clearing, and I knew that he'd already put the wolf's eyes to good use. "Whoa," he whispered.

"Can you see them?" I asked.

He nodded. "There are so many colors. No wonder women have problems with decorating."

That made me laugh. Caden turned around to watch us. Behind him, Morgan's eyes were closed and her brows were pulled down low. Lucas stood close to her, protecting her.

"Jacob, touch him."

"What?" I said to Caden.

He nodded to Seth. "Touch him."

Seth and I looked at each other with eyebrows raised. Slowly, we each held out a hand. Once we got close enough to each other, I could feel the wolf in me take over. Before I knew it, our hands were clapping forearms like magnets drawn to each other. Seth's eyes widened as our auras mixed. In my head, I could picture Seth's wolf and mine rubbing their sides together. Not in a sexual way, but in a comforting way.

"Wolves are pack animals," Caden said. "Constant touching is comforting. It lets them know that they aren't alone." He started walking over to us while our wolves purred. He stopped just short of touching us. "Now, Jacob. Let's see how much of an Alpha you are. Push his wolf back. Force it to lie down again."

I swallowed hard. "How?"

"Think of your Alpha voice, the one you use to give orders sometimes. Use that tone through your connection, but don't say anything. Your wolves are connected through your hands. If you can do this, eventually you'd be able to do it without touching them."

"Do what?"

"Calm them."

Looking out past him, I could see that Morgan and Lucas had moved around the pack, as had Leah who'd been gathered around Caden. Most of the pack either had their eyes opened with that other presence filling them or still had their eyes closed getting linked to that familiar yet foreign entity.

"That's a lot of wolves," Caden said with a whisper. "You and Seth will have a connection with them that I can't touch. If they get too out of control with their newfound abilities, they will need to be calmed. If not, it could turn deadly."

Looking into his eyes, I saw fear. And a realization of my own surfaced.

"You didn't think we'd be able to do it, tap into our wild sides. Did you?"

He swallowed hard and wouldn't meet my eyes. "Not all of you. Maybe some of you, the really dominant ones, but not all." He took my elbow, pulled me to the side, and lowered his voice. The connection between me and Seth was broken, but I could still feel our wolves reach for each other. "I want you and the rest of the pack to take a week to get used to this. I'd make it an order if I could."

Studying him for a moment, the wolf's eyes registered the flickers of Caden's eyes, his throat working in a nervous way. I could hear his heart pounding harder and faster, pushing his blood through his veins.

"What are you so scared of?" I asked.

Taking a deep breath, he licked his lips before saying, "I didn't expect this. But we have to tread carefully. The training for tonight is over. Like I said, a week to get used to this. If we push too much, we could have a bloodbath. Those wolves are dangerous. What I sensed from you as you went through the connection tells me that your kind of wolf is just as dangerous as mine. If we take it too far, the wolves will take over and you'll lose the entire pack. This needs to be done slowly." Glancing over at Seth, he nodded. "Prove me right about you and go calm your second in command."

Stepping back over to Seth, we gripped arms once more, our wolf auras twining around each other. My wolf nudged his back toward his body, slowly trying to get the giant beast to lay quiet in his human host.

And that's when I felt it.

Seth's unwavering loyalty. To me. Nessie. Shelby. The pack. The only way he'd ever be moved from second in command is if I ordered it or over his cold, dead body. He was there to stay and support me. The thought even came that he'd do whatever it took to take care of Nessie should anything happen to me, and he knew that I'd do the same for Shelby.

In my mind, I tapped the connection I felt to Seth and expressed my gratitude. I could practically feel the wolf inside of him puff up with pride.

Smiling, I thought really hard at him. _Lie down. Easy. We're ok, we're cool._

In my mind's eye I could see Seth's wolf go down low to the ground as he backed up, retreating into Seth's body. The aura was being pulled back as the wolf inside of Seth receded.

My new sensitivity to my senses picked up that the air around me was moving. Glancing away from Seth, I found our teacher staring at me with a sort of awe on his face.

"What?" I asked.

Caden shook his head. "Nothing. It's just…normally it's not that simple."

"Well," Seth said in a matter of fact tone. "When you respect your alpha and his decisions, and you trust him with your life, you'll follow him anywhere."

Shock had my jaw dropping when he dropped to his knees with his head bowed. And then my eyes went to the rest of my pack. All fifty of them, the ones that weren't on patrol, were turned toward me with their wolves plain in their stares. All of them alien yet familiar. Across the clearing I could feel the presence of my wolf spread out invisibly through the air, touching, calming each one of my wolves. And as each one was calmed, as each otherworldly presence receded, my pack dropped to their knees with their heads bowed.

My eyes wandered over to Caden out of curiosity. Even his head was bowed. Shelby and Nessie came into my line of peripheral vision. Once they felt my eyes on them, Shelby dropped to her knees, and Nessie's eyes went to the forest floor, her head bowed as Caden's was.

Shaking my head, I quickly strode over to her. With my fingertips under her chin, I forced her eyes to meet mine.

Swallowing hard, I said, "Don't you ever bow to me. I am not a king."

She smiled as the tears that I hadn't caught earlier flowed down her cheeks. "Yes you are. You always have been. King doesn't have to mean a gold throne and bejeweled crown. King is just another word for leader, pack leader, alpha, or even chief." She took my hand in hers and pressed it to her heart. "They love and trust you. This is your family, our family."

Looking back out over them, I found all eyes on me.

"She's right," Caden said. "In our type of packs, the pack leader is rarely revered, but always feared. It's easier to keep your people in line. But this one instance, I believe that it's better to rule with love than fear."

"Jacob," Morgan called from her place between Lucas and Derek. She stood up when our eyes met. "I think I speak for the entire pack when I say that we'd all follow you into hell. You've given us so much. A lot of us were lost before we phased for the first time. And when we did phase, you welcomed us with open arms. Anything we have ever come to you about, you've accepted." She looked at Derek, who nodded. "Derek and Adam for instance. You just accepted them. You've accepted us. Our faults, things we're ashamed of. You've always done everything you could to make us feel like we're not stranded or forgotten. Do you really think we'd leave you to fight battles on your own? Do you really think we'd rather have anybody else leading us?" Morgan's eyes shifted to my right. "That goes for Nessie, too. Even though she's younger than most of us, she's the mother we never had. That feminine accepting presence that all of us need every once in a while. If something were to happen to you, Jake, there's nothing we wouldn't do for her, either."

As one cohesive group, the pack stood up at the same time, and I could feel their inner wolves be brought to the surface just enough. Lucas threw his head back and howled into the oncoming night, his wolf allowing him to vocal chords to do so. And then he phased. Throughout the clearing other wolves added their voices to Lucas's as they too phased into their wolf counterparts.

Even Caden, though he didn't shift, threw his head back to add his voice. Shelby went to stand beside Seth, her throat stretched into a graceful line, her voice mixing with my family's.

Nessie squeezed my hand. When I looked over at her, she smiled and nodded toward the pack.

Taking the hint, I squeezed her hand back, stepped away from her, and phased. My own howl mixed in with the rest, a leader becoming equal with his people.

**RPOV**

Grinning from ear to ear, I backed up until my back hit the side of the house, watching as Jake stood in front of his pack, and joined them. The sound was haunting but beautiful. A family that was celebrating together.

Something brushed the back of my hand. Looking over, I found Walker staring wide-eyed at the group of wolves with their heads thrown back. He looked scared and exhilarated all at the same time. I gripped his hand in mine. The movement seemed to have startled him because he swallowed hard and took a deep breath before he looked over at me.

"Jacob and I won't let you go through this alone. You're safe with us, ok?"

He nodded. "But what about my family? My sister?"

"You're one of us now. They get a protection detail, too."

Surprise flashed in his eyes. "Wait, there's not a one or the other choice? I don't have to pick, or just leave them behind?"

I squeezed his hand again. "Absolutely not. We'll get you to control this and then you can see them. Hell, with this calming thing, you might get to see them sooner. But trust me, we want to keep your family safe as much as you do. Forks and the rez are our territory to protect. That includes the citizens, not just the land."

"She's right."

Turning around brought me face to face with my mother. She smiled and took my other hand.

"Not only do you have the wolves, but you have us as well. Welcome to the family, Walker."

"Where are the others?" I asked not seeing Dad or my aunts and uncles.

Mom smiled. "Your dad wanted to go hunt bears with Emmett. They'll be back soon."

Speaking of hunting, that was one thing I hadn't done in months, and to be honest, I was feeling the effects. When Jacob and I had been together earlier today, I'd felt more pain than I ever had at his intrusion. It didn't bode well. Carlisle had a theory about balancing my two sides. Without feeding blood to my vampire side, he feared that the vampire gene may recess, rendering me completely human. I'd tried to hide it as best I could, but Jacob had known that I was hurting. Unfortunately, he felt that it was all his fault and wouldn't let me tell him that it was because I needed to hunt. He'd locked himself in the bathroom for hours before we came down here for the training.

"What is it, honey?" Mom asked.

Pulling my mind away from last night, I looked up at her with a smile. "I just need to hunt. I'm starting to feel a little off."

Mom's eyes went round with understanding. "Jacob," she said in a normal tone.

Immediately, Jake was right in front of us, worry clear in his eyes. Reaching out, I stroked the space between his eyes. "I tried to tell you earlier. I need to hunt, otherwise, I would have been ok. It had nothing to do with you."

Next to me, Momma shifted uncomfortably, which made me smile. Vampires didn't fidget. I knew that she knew that I was talking about my relationship with Jacob in the bedroom. As my mother, the topic clearly made her squeegee.

Jacob leaned forward to press his nose to my forehead.

"Let's go hunting before we go home, ok?"

"Wait," Walker said. "I get why a wolf would hunt, but you?"

I laughed. "My family and I are vegetarian vampires. We don't feed from humans. Otherwise their eyes would be red, not topaz."

"Why aren't your eyes that color?"

"Because my eyes are my mother's eyes when she was human. I'm only half human." I motioned to my mom. "This is my mother. Edward Cullen is my dad. I thought you knew they were my parents."

His eyebrows rose. "I knew their names, but not what they looked like. I always thought they were a myth or something."

I laughed. "Nope. We're all real."

Taking on a pained look, he rubbed his forehead and the bridge of his nose. "So, how do you hunt?"

I shrugged and grabbed his arm. "Why don't you come with us? I'll show you how my family and I survive."

"Sure."

I gave Momma a quick kiss, gripped a hunk of Jacob's fur, and we started walking for the tree line. A moment later, Morgan and Lucas joined our group, flanking us on either side while Adam and Derek took up space ahead and behind us. All in wolf form.

"That's a lot of security," Walker muttered.

"Jake and I are the alpha couple. They take our safety very seriously."

"So, Jacob was born into the Alpha title, right?"

"Mhm."

"Ok, so tell me again what the difference is between an alpha and a dominant?"

I wasn't sure I could explain it, but I'd try. "Ok, first, to explain this, let's forget about werewolves and the different types. Let's just talk about wolves. It might be easier. This is how I see it, ok? I don't know if it's right but I'll see what I can do."

As I thought about it, Adam led us further into the woods while the others watched the environment around us. Jacob kept nudging me, begging me to rub his head and purring into my ear.

"Ok, for me, 'dominant' and 'alpha' are interchangeable. However, in some instances, an alpha is always dominant, but a dominant is not always an alpha. And then you have the betas. Betas need the dominants to survive, but a dominant can survive outside the pack on their own. Let's take Jake and Seth, and forget the born-into-it thing. Say they were just regular wolves. Jacob had to fight to the top to become alpha male. Seth, as second in command is dominant to the rest of the pack, but a beta to Jacob, who is the ultimate male of the pack."

As we continued walking, Walker took it all in to process it. While he did that, I stretched out my senses to find food. It was quiet out, but then again, we weren't far enough away from the house. With all the wolves howling, the deer and mountain lions had probably tucked themselves down for the night. This was really going to be a hunt, not just a chase.

"So you're saying," Walker said. "That Seth could be labeled as an alpha male, but since Jake was born into it, he's _the_ alpha male. And you use the word 'dominant' for all the alpha males of the pack so as not to create confusion."

"That's right. Couldn't have said it better myself."

"Going with that theory then, with Caden's type of wolf, they must just call the alpha male the pack leader. All the dominants are called alphas, and the rest are betas."

I shrugged. "I'm not sure about his type of pack, but it could make sense."

"So, what exactly is going on around here? I was attacked by a werewolf. Is there some sort of turf war going on or something?"

I sighed. "It's a lot more complicated than that."

He nudged me with his shoulder. "We have time."

Digging my fingers into Jacob's fur, I held onto him for strength. "Our kind has a type of royalty, the Volturi. A long time ago, they came to kill me and my entire family because they thought that I was a child that had been bitten instead of born. Nobody had ever heard of a vampire fathering a child. But when they came to take care of business, they realized that they had been lied to with the accusation. Though they were still going to try to destroy us, my aunt showed the leader, who could read thoughts by touching someone, what would happen should he chose to go to war with us. They'd lose and he'd die. There are three leaders: Aro, Caius, and Marcus. Caius didn't understand Aro's need to stop the battle and he was very angry. My family thinks that he and Jane, one of their most prized possessions, came up with a plan to destroy us anyway. Last year, Jane showed up with Tristan and his pack, which included Caden. Caden switched sides and joined us, but Tristan and the rest have been brainwashed."

"But what caused that? Why would they come after you?"

"Caius has a bad history with the Children of the Moon and he tried to kill them all off in Europe. We think he had Jane convince Tristan's pack that my family and our 'guard dogs' were responsible for the decimation of their kind. Tristan wants Jacob's head on a platter as a trophy. If Tristan and his pack could defeat us, Caius would have Jane kill them. The eradication of the werewolves in Europe would continue after the clan who had made the Volturi look like fools were destroyed. That way nobody-human, vampire, or werewolf-would ever question the superiority of the vampire royalty."

"And how many wolves are in Tristan's pack?"

"Caden says about the same as in ours."

Walker nodded. "That's why Caden wanted this training to happen. Equal numbers doesn't necessarily mean equal force. He wants your wolves to have the same abilities as Tristan's."

I smiled at him. "You learn fast."

He shrugged. "History was always a good subject of mine. Both sides have to be prepared for it to be an even fight."

Ahead of us, Adam stopped, phased back to human and held up his hand. I could tell he was listening to the woods around us as his head swiveled on his shoulders, eyes scanning the dense darkness.

"There's a lion nearby," he whispered.

"Dibs," I whispered back.

When he turned back to me, I shrugged.

"I need the game with the most kick. A deer won't last me very long. I haven't hunted in a few months."

He nodded. "Fine. You and I go for the lion. With him here, that means there's deer around somewhere. Jake, stay close to Walker. You're the strongest of all of us."

Immediately, we all split up. Derek and Adam stuck close to me. Crouching low, I followed them into a thick patch of trees.

Adam leaned back. "Derek and I will circle around and push him toward you. You think you can handle taking him down?"

"Absolutely. I'm ready for a good meal."

As they disappeared into the darkness, I crouched lower into the tall shrubs and waited. Over the past couple days I'd had feelings of instant headaches and fatigue. Right now, one of those episodes felt like it was about to hit.

Closing my eyes, I sank down even lower and tried to breathe deep. There was a rustle in the shrubs and two seconds later they burst apart as the mountain lion shot out, straight for me. Surprised into motionlessness all I could do was watch as it came at me with fangs bared and claws out.

With its approach, I stumbled back onto my ass and tried to crabwalk backward. It wasn't good enough. The lion was getting closer, stalking toward me, a low growl slipping between its teeth.

Just before it launched into the air, I could see the muscles in its shoulders bunch. No doubt Derek and Adam were coming to check on me, but they were going to be too late, and I was too weak to take it on.

In midair, a giant dark blur t-boned the animal, lurching it away from me. They rolled over the grass and tree roots as another blur ran past me. I recognized Walker immediately, which meant Jacob was wresting with the lion.

"Snap its neck. It's less cruel that way," I managed to say.

The cat let out a vicious snarl as Jacob pinned it down and Walker circled behind it. With unwavering hands, Walker gripped the sides of the cat's head and twisted. Looking away, a sharp crack echoed in the woods and all other sounds died off. I always felt bad about the killing part, but it was a necessity. And right now, I needed what the animal had to offer.

On the breeze, the scent of the blood hit my nose making my head spin and stomach rumble like thunder. Jacob gripped the back of the neck in his teeth and dragged the dead animal to me. After he pressed his nose to my forehead again, he sat down next to me, huffing in my hair.

"Thanks, Jacob."

Dragging the animal into my lap, I ripped out some of the fur around the neck and dug in.

The moment the blood hit my tongue, a rush of power flooded through me. It was like every nerve in my body fired off at once. It was almost painful, but I kept drinking. My stomach felt like it was going to burst as it filled up with more than it could really handle. I also felt the walls in my mind crash down. I'd put them back up when Shelby and I had gone outside to join the pack. Now, they came crashing down.

But the aches in my bones and muscles disappeared, leaving me feeling like I wanted to go a few rounds with Jake between the sheets.

With my shields down, I projected. Jacob made a joked sound beside me that was followed with a low purr. Adam and Derek grinned at each other. Morgan and Lucas, still in wolf form, nuzzled each other and watched me and Jacob with low growls.

"What the hell was that?" Walker asked.

With my eyes locked onto my mate's, I answered, "I can project my thoughts when I'm not concentrating. The power rush knocked down my mental walls. Sorry."

In one smooth motion, Jacob stepped forward, phased, and swept me up into his arms.

"Morgan and Lucas, take care of the lion. Tell Seth and Caden I took Nessie home to rest after feeding," Jacob ordered in a nonnegotiable tone.

"Absolutely," Morgan said. "Oh, no you don't," she said to somebody else. Probably Walker. "They have a cabin about a mile away. That's where they're going."

"Derek and Adam, you come with us. I want my mate, but I won't be stupid about her safety."

"Right on your heels, Jake."

And then two wolves flanked us as Jacob carried me all the way to the cabin without looking anywhere else but my eyes with enough heat to burn even this wet forest to ash.

* * *

**Hmmm...who else is sensing some Nessie/Jake steamy time? ME! Hopefully you guys are up for another lemon cuz that's what's coming. Remember, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to review(I love those!) or PM me (love those too!). Luv you guys! xoxoxoxoxo**


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 22...Some of you might say this is a filler chapter. I don't think so, but I am madly in love with this one. I was quite surprised at the feedback that I got from the last chapter. Many of you said it was your favorite so far. That's amazing to me. Thank you guys so much. It means a lot. Ok, so this chapter is just lemony. And again, some of you might say it's raunchy. That's fine, but you have been warned. EXPLICIT.**

***Disclaimer***

**Please Enjoy!**

* * *

**ShelbyPOV**

The pack show had been incredible. And being able to join in was just as amazing. Once Jacob and the group left, Seth had turned to me and phased back.

"Are you ok?" he asked.

Putting my hand to his warm cheek, I said, "I am if you are."

He nodded. "I'm good. You don't have to be scared. It's just me, Shelbs."

"I'm not scared of _you_, Seth."

With a relieved breath, he pulled me into his body and stroked my back. "If there's anything that my wolf and I agree on, it's our love for you." He pulled back so that we could look into each other's eyes. "That wolf may be a different presence, but you don't have to be scared of him. The entire time he was at the surface, his thoughts were all about protecting you and the baby."

"Really?"

He nodded. "I'm sorry if it seemed that I was aggressive, but that's not what was going through our minds and any aggression wasn't toward you."

Hugging him tighter, I pressed my face to his chest. "It's just that it scared me to not see you in your own skin, you know?"

His arms tightened around me. "I know. It felt weird, and at first I was scared. Scared that I wouldn't be able to control him. But I trust Jacob to be able to calm any of us. What he did was incredible."

I laughed. "Yeah, who knew Jake actually has some cajones like that?"

Seth kissed the top of my head. "I've always known he had 'em. It just took this to bring out that part of him. And I must say that I'm glad he's embracing it. And Nessie? Man, that takes some support."

"Yeah, she's really stepping up for Jake, for the pack. I like it."

Meeting his smile with one of my own, I heard the bushes behind me shudder. Seth turned us so that I could see Walker, Morgan, and Lucas step through. Morgan and Lucas were as naked as the day they were born with matching smirks. Walker was looking like he'd heard or seen something that he was still trying to process.

Instantly, Seth's body tightened as if on red alert. "Guys, where're Jake and Nessie? And Adam? Derek?"

Morgan laughed. "Chill, second in command. The boys escorted our alpha couple back to the cabin. Jake said to tell you that he was 'taking Nessie to rest after feeding' end quote."

Trying to hide my grin, I turned into Seth's chest again. "I'm sure Jake is feeling the need to remark his territory."

A moment later, the ringtone that Seth had set for Jacob started going off from somewhere near the back door of the Cullen house. Seth jogged for the sound, found his clothes-which he had yet to put back on-and dug out his phone.

While he talked to Jake, I turned back to Morgan. "So, Nessie's ok, right?"

She shared a look with Lucas. "Yeah. She fed from a mountain lion. She's fine. I promise."

They were hiding something from me, but I didn't push it. Morgan wouldn't lie to me about my best friend being ok, and Lucas wouldn't let her even if she would.

Apparently, there was something on my face that said I was about to argue because Morgan stepped up to me, placed her hand on my shoulder, and looked me in the eye. It was kind of intimidating to have her standing there naked. I mean, I was straight as an arrow, but Morgan was flat out gorgeous. Curvy and soft in all the right places, and totally comfortable with eyes on her. Of course, if any male tried anything, Lucas looked as if he could rip off their special areas and feed it to them.

"Shelby, trust me. She's ok."

Lucas walked up to wrap an arm around his mate. "Totally fine."

Pulling my bottom lip between my teeth, I felt Seth come up behind me, his phone call with Jake over. He wrapped his arms around my hips from behind and pulled me to him. I gripped his arms tight around me as he pressed himself into my ass and placed a gentle kiss to my shoulder.

Right when I was about to ask him about the phone call, he said, "Walker? You ok, man?"

He stumbled forward over roots and sat down hard on the ground, his eyes still not focusing. He put his forearms on his knees and flexed his hands.

"I-I just…I just broke…the neck of…a mountain lion." He held his hands up to us, his expression intense. "With my bare hands! And…and then, I heard…another person's thoughts." His eyes went back to not being focused, hands on his knees. "What the hell is going on?"

Hearing thoughts? Killed a mountain lion? Nessie. Looking up, I met Morgan's eyes. She shrugged.

"There may have been a mishap, but nothing happened. Nessie's fine and she fed."

I was about to open my mouth when Seth squeezed my waist gently and said, "She's right. Jake said Nessie's fine. He's locking them up in the cabin for a while. Could be a couple days." He said that with a chuckle. "And Walker?" When the other man looked up, my man said, "Welcome to the behind-the-scenes of Forks. You're in the weird group now."

**JPOV**

Derek and Adam took their posts outside the cabin after I'd finished my call to Seth. The entire time, Nessie stayed plastered to my body, arms and legs wrapped around me. It had been difficult not sound aggressive on the phone while she undulated against me, especially since I was naked against her jeans.

As soon as the front door was closed and locked, our mouths locked together in a messy liplock that had our teeth scraping together. Her razor-sharp vampire teeth cut my bottom lip open, and as she drank my blood with a moan, I turned on my heel and slammed her none too gently against the wall. My palms and fingers gripped her ass so hard that she'd probably have bruises tomorrow, but she didn't seem to mind. Instead of crying out in pain, she moaned louder and pushed harder against me. One of her hands was dug into my hair, nails digging into my scalp, pulling my hair. The other hand was roaming down my chest and stomach, nails likewise running down my skin.

As great as this was, I needed more of her; the wolf in me needed more of her. The moment she'd anchored into my arms, the beast inside had surged forward, begging me to let him control how we took her, mated her.

Not wanting to ruin the moment, but needing her to understand, I pulled back. But she followed, her lips never leaving mine. Pushing my hand into her thick curls, I gripped them at the roots and pulled her back as gently as I could. She fought, but I was still stronger even though she'd just fed. Her eyes were hooded and a drop of my blood smudged her lip. Our bodies were straining, muscles tight from tension.

"Nessie, look at me," I commanded.

A purr vibrated out from her throat. The wolf in me growled at the disobedience.

"Look. At. Me," I growled out.

The tone must have gotten to her because her tongue snaked out to clean her mouth as her eyelids fluttered.

"What's wrong?" she said in a breathy voice.

When her eyes finally focused on me with a worried gleam, I said, "I need you to understand that…it's not just me here, right now." I swallowed hard and beat back the wolf's impulse to not care about her feelings. She was our mate. We didn't need her permission to mate her.

_Oh, but we do, _I countered. _I won't lose her just because you want to tap her a good one so rough that she can't handle it._

The wolf didn't understand what I was saying so I had to revise, remembering that he was, at his very core, an animal. The word "tap" as a substitute was an alien concept to him.

_I won't let you force her to mate. It's her choice. She's not a wolf. _

In my mind, the wolf and I stared at each other, will against instinct. In the end, though, I won, forcing him to back down, to let her think.

Something abruptly brought my attention back to the physical world instead of the one in my head. It was Nessie's hand on my cheek, the one with the engagement ring on it.

"Jacob, I know it's you. Both of you," she said seriously. Then she ground against me, biting her lip. "I want you both, right here, now."

For a moment, I was speechless. But fear made me swallow hard and cover her hand with mine. "I don't want to hurt you."

"And I don't want to be hurt, but I want it hard tonight. I feel more alive than I have in a while. I want you rough and wild, however, wherever you want me, take me. Don't worry about hurting me. I'm so sexed up, it'll take rough for me to feel it."

And that was when the wolf took over. Growling, using my throat, he roared to the forefront of my consciousness and tightened my fingers in her hair much harder than I would have ever dared. The breath rushed out of her throat and her eyes fluttered closed. Pulling her head back by the handle of her hair, the wolf leaned me forward to run my tongue up the column of her neck with a growl that traced her skin.

"You want me to dominate you, don't you?" The voice that came out of my throat was much deeper than my normal bass, but Nessie either didn't notice or didn't care. A sigh left her, which wasn't the answer the wolf was looking for. We tugged her hair sharply making her gasp. "Answer me. You want me to dominate you tonight. Don't you? You want me to mate you so hard and good." When there wasn't an answer, another tug on her hair snapped her neck back. "Say it," I growled.

"Yes," she said in a whisper. When a growl ripped up my chest, she cleared her throat and said louder and hurriedly, "Yes."

"Yes, what?"

"Dominate me. Please."

And that was all she needed to say. The fear that had been building in the human side of me vanished. Even without the wolf inside of me, I was a dominant man and I had been dreaming of taking her like this. The animal side of me had just been brave enough to take it.

Dropping her to her feet, I spun her around and pushed her face first into the wall. When she tried to turn around, I braced an arm across her shoulders as I reached between the wall and the front of her hips. When I couldn't reach the button and zipper of her jeans, I went to my knees, gripped her hips roughly to let her know I wanted her to stay, and then moved my fingers over the waistband of her jeans. Her hips pushed out from the wall in an arch, her ass hitting my chest as I gripped the tops of her jeans. With a great growl, I pulled apart the denim covering her into two halves. Her body did a full on jerk, half of her against the wall, the other against me.

The growl got louder as I peeled the offending fabric from her body to reveal a pair of lacy royal purple panties. My human mind processed just enough that those were a pair we liked, so no ripping those off, before flinging the jeans across the room. Roughly, I ran my hands up her legs, over her thighs and ass, to roam up her back under her shirt, lifting it up as I went, slowly baring her skin to the firelight.

When she reached down to try to pull her shirt off, I growled and sharply slapped her ass then gripping the flesh. Nessie put her hands back on the wall with a groan and hip arch into my hand.

I made quick work of her shirt, leaving her only in her panties and matching bra. The panties came off first in jerking fits. The wolf just wanted to rip them, but again, the human in me vetoed that idea as we slipped them off her long legs to hold them up to our nose, breathing deep of her secrets. The cloth was damp…very damp. And smelled of a summer storm, and I knew she'd taste as good as she smelled.

Throwing the panties in the general direction of her jeans, I put my hands back to her. And followed with my tongue, lips, and teeth, nipping at her here and there. Especially as I reached the slope of her ass. She wriggled a little and gasped in surprise as I set my teeth into her. Gently at first to get her used to it, but when she pressed back into me, I bit harder until she moaned. All the while, I used my hands to coax her legs apart, keeping her balanced and upright.

When I knew she was steady, I ducked down between her legs and licked her core from back to front, as far as I could go. She made a high-pitched sound that was nothing but pleasure.

"Jake," she breathed.

The wolf and I both growled against her, my lips pressed to her most secret of places. And now that she knew where I was and what was happening, I wasted no more time before I dove into that one place I'd been dying to kiss. She was nearly bent in half as I went at her with everything I had, drinking her down as she pulsed and writhed around me. I ended up having to use my hands to spread her wide from her thighs wanting to close around my face. Again, I lifted my hand to clap it on one of her cheeks and squeezed as I ate at her.

Marks would definitely be left tonight. And none one part of me cared as my mate undulated and writhed above me in pleasure. My tongue played in and around her, taking into me what her body was offering. That sweet, thick honey of her body sliding down my throat, tasting the way the air did when a storm was coming, charged, metallic, and electric.

I could tell she was gearing up for the first orgasm of the night because she reached back with one hand to ding her nails into the back of my hand where I gripped her, and her knees started to shake.

One more lick and a suck later, she bucked against me with a shout. Her body rushed even more and I struggled to keep up with the swallowing. The movement of my mouth against her, however, caused her to keep coming. Her nails, as predicted, broke the skin of my hand as she scraped across the top of it.

Finally she stilled and breathed hard, but the wolf didn't want to give her time to run, so he propelled my body up. And everything slid into place beautifully.

I shot up to my feet, gripped her hips and thrust my painfully hard erection into her in one hard push. She shouted again, her fingers now scrabbling against the wall as my body pistoned against her. My voice echoed hers, twining with her panting breaths. Her body tightened around mine with the continued aftershocks of her orgasm, fisting mine as I fought and pushed for each thick inch.

And I didn't give pain a thought. I just thrust against her over and over. The sound of skin slapping skin rose up with our pants while I gripped her hips to force her body against mine hard.

Eventually, though, she got the rhythm, forcing herself to meet me thrust for thrust. My hands now had room to move, so they roamed up her stomach for her breasts and the bra covering them from my skin. With rough hands and a low growl, I shoved the cups of the bra up and tightly gripped her breasts, rolling her nipples between my fingers.

Nessie let out a hoarse cry, her hands now performing a sort of push up against the wall to keep her momentum. Now, her breasts were my handles as I cupped her.

There was nothing human left of us as our bodies slapped together, sweat pouring off of us as she clawed at me and forced her core over my hard-as-steel erection that continued to pump into her. Even if I'd wanted to stop, there was no way I could have. My wolf had taken my body and was now taking Nessie's for his. This was dominant mating at its most primal root, rough and hard, bloodletting and just on the edge of too much pain. Because I knew that if I was hurting, Nessie was definitely hurting, or was going to be once the hormones died down.

Abruptly, a shift inside of me took place. The wolf was more front-and-center than I had anticipated, and he wasn't at all ok with the noises Nessie was making, or the fact that she was getting close again. He wanted to control her, especially this first time of him being involved with the mating. And we weren't close to orgasm. The longer we were inside of her, the more of our scent that got on her, in her, the more she belonged to us.

There was no way I could gain back my control. Not this time. The two of us were too far gone.

As Nessie made another sound, the wolf in me gripped her hair again and used it to bring her upright, her back to my chest. She grunted as my body kept pumping into her, ever increasing the friction and arrival of her orgasm.

"Hush," I commanded in a low growl. "Don't make any more noises. And you come when I tell you to."

Involuntarily, she whimpered at the whip-like tone that came out of me. Unfortunately, I was no longer in control or I would have stopped. The wolf had taken over and was going to finish the session, his first time with our mate. I knew, though, that there would be no violence. He didn't want to hurt her, just own her.

The hand that was in her hair moved to clap over her mouth. "I said no more noises." Each word was punctuated with a hard thrust to drive the point home.

I knew she wanted to do exactly as she was told not to. That was the way of an alpha female. And that was the way of Nessie. She never had liked being told what to do, especially by me.

But she surprised me. Instead, she just breathed hard through her nose. Still, little whimpers came out here and there as I continued to thrust up into her as far as her body would allow. Both of us would be bruised and sore tomorrow, but I had a feeling it would be well worth it.

Nessie was on the edge, almost to orgasm. The wolf, with his heightened senses, could feel the rush of her body. He, we, could hear it as it rushed toward the destination of satisfaction. We could smell the lightning of that summer storm that she smelled like.

So, the wolf pulled my body back and stopped.

"Oh, no you don't. Did you not hear me tell you that you come when I say?"

Her body fought to get back to mine, to continue the relentless beating of skin on skin, her ass against my hips. But it didn't happen. Instead, the wolf stopped us altogether. And then surprised me further by stepping off completely, losing all contact with her except my hands. We took her to the floor, put her on her back, her ankles on my shoulders, being her in half, and pinned her hands above her head with one hand circling her wrists. The other went to position my body back to hers. Once the lineup was done, I covered her mouth once more.

There was no soft entry. One powerful thrust back in had her eyes widening and her back arching off the floor. No mercy followed the prelude either. The wolf used my body to hammer her hard and fast.

He was just playing with both me and Nessie. All three of us were dying to come, all at the same time. The wolf in me had just wanted to assert all his dominance over his mate. It also helped that we were in our own house, our scents mixing and mingling with our own things. Not to mention that a new scent had emerged. A dark, heady scent, like wood smoke in the mountains permeated the room, and I realized that it was coming from me.

In my own head, I growled. _Just come already. We're going to hurt her if we go anymore. She needs time to rest._

The wolf in my head snapped at me, but he listened.

Instantly, my body tightened up painfully. My stomach and lower back cinched up tight as did the sac between my legs that slapped mercilessly against her.

"Alright, Nessie. We're close, so close. Can you get ready for me?"

Still breathing hard, she nodded frantically. When I gave a sharp thrust, her eyes rolled as her body arched, pushing her breasts up to me. An offering. She was offering herself to us. The wolf took the invitation, sucking a nipple into my mouth, savoring the taste of mint and honey as we worked her core relentlessly.

Her breath started coming in pants, and I knew she was close. Taking my hand from her mouth, I snaked it between our bodies to press my thumb to that sweet spot at the top of her sex. Her body vibrated, a full out purr from head to toe as I stroked both on the inside and the outside.

Releasing her breast from my mouth, I leaned up to caress her ear. "Come for me. Come now, Nessie. Scream for me," I whispered.

On command, her body convulsed, bucking between me and the hardwood floor. She bit her lower lip to keep from screaming as her body gripped mine suddenly, milking it though I had yet to come. Something was missing.

"Scream, Nessie. I told you to scream for me."

There was a moment of hesitation and maybe processing what I was saying through the haze of pleasure, but a moment later, she screamed.

"Jacob!"

She obeyed her alpha. And that was the missing piece.

My body seized up as the orgasm hit me like a wrecking ball, pitching me forward, forcing me to keep thrusting, drawing out the orgasm for both of us. The wolf threw back my head and used my throat to howl out in pleasure, in triumph as we took what was ours, what had willingly given itself to us.

I hadn't realized that I'd let go of her wrists until I felt the sharp bite of her nails in my chest and work their way down my stomach as the muscles there convulsed in the multiple orgasm I was rocking. Come to think of it, Nessie was still going, too. Apparently she really liked what was happening. Hopefully she'd want to do it again.

Finally, we lay still. Or as still as a sweaty, panting heap of loose bones and skin could be. And in a rush like strong wind blowing through, the other presence of the wolf was gone. Make no mistake, he was still under the surface, but for right now, he was sated. After having gorged on the energy and submission from the mating, he was a happy camper, happy enough to let me have the rest of the night with Nessie.

Caught in the throes of passion, I'd collapsed on top of her after the mega-orgasm had completed.

I went to roll off of her when I felt her hands on my sides.

"Are you ever going to learn to stay? I love having you on top of me afterward."

"I figured you'd want to be away from me right, so that you could rest."

Her large brown eyes met mine. "Jacob, I only rest when I'm with you. And that was…God, words don't even describe that."

For some reason, now I was nervous about how she'd react. "So, you enjoyed it? You're not…angry at anything that happened?"

A small smile played over her lips while her eyes traced my face. "No, Jacob, I'm not angry." Her hands slowly slid up and down my spine. "This was perfect. I loved every moment. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't think I could do it every night, because you're right. I need to rest and heal. But it was fantastic. The whole alpha/submissive thing was totally hot."

"Really?"

She nodded with the smile now a grin. "I loved it when he told me what to do. I think you should take some pointers from him."

Surprise had my eyebrows shooting up. "You knew when it was him?"

Her hands snaked up my arms and shoulders, comforting me. "Of course I did. Don't you think I know the man I love?"

Instead of letting me answer, she rolled so that we were on our sides. Immediately, she snuggled her body closer to mine, sighing contentedly.

Nope. Nope. Nope. She was not sleeping on the hardwood floors. So instead of cuddling up to her and falling asleep, got to my knees, scooped her up and went for the bedroom. Aches and pains flooded my lower body as I moved. And I knew Nessie would feel worse tomorrow after she slept on all of the aches tonight. But I'd take care of her then.

On my way down the stairs, my new hypersensitive nose picked up something. A tangy, coppery something. After a moment of trying to place it, I finally did.

Blood.

Dammit. Making a detour for the bathroom, I grabbed a towel, laid it out on the counter and set her on it. Automatically, I knew where it was coming from, but I checked the rest of her body just in case. Not finding anything, I slowly spread her legs as she groggily lazed against the mirror, What I saw made my stomach churn.

Swallowing hard, I went for the closet to grab her some panties. She was awake and examining herself when I came back. Terrified to look into her eyes, I forced myself to anyway. What I found was a smile instead of the glare I was waiting for.

"Why are you smiling?" I asked.

"Because that was amazing. And this?" she said motioning to her thighs. "This is normal for rough sex. I'll be fine tomorrow."

"Normal?"

"Well, yeah. If it's rough enough." She blushed. "Or so I've heard." Before I could say anything, she scooted forward to kiss me hard. "Don't beat yourself up. I wanted this, and I knew it was coming. I'm super happy, ok? Just let me clean up and we can go to bed. I'll meet you in there."

Shaking my head, I grabbed a wash cloth and ran it under some water. "No, I did this, I'll take care of you."

"Jacob-,"

"Nessie, please."

Closing her mouth and smiling softly, she nodded and spread her legs wider. Gently, I got her cleaned up and in her panties. Once they were on, she hopped off the counter, took my hand, and pulled me to the bed. After we were under the covers, she rolled so that her back was to me and pushed herself back until her skin met mine.

"Jacob?"

"Yeah?"

"I want you to sleep. Tonight was perfect. You didn't hurt me." She turned so that she could meet my eyes. "And I definitely want to do that again."

Closing my eyes, I wanted to cry. Instead, I wrapped my arms around her, twining my left hand with hers and pressed a kiss to her temple.

"I love you so damned much."

"I love you, too, Jacob. And I love your wolf. I have a feeling he'll take care of both of us. Tonight was exactly what we needed."

I pressed my lips to her shoulder. "Yeah, it was pretty powerful," I admitted.

"Are you hurt?" she asked quietly. "And tell me the truth. You know I'm sore."

I wanted to lie, but the way to being a man was not denying pain to look strong. It was admitting pain…and that you liked it.

"Yeah, I'll be sore tomorrow. But the good kind. Just like you will be."

I could practically hear her smile. "I'm glad you see it the same way."

I was about to say that I didn't really when something caught my attention. It was a sound, one that was eerily beautiful and echoed around the woods.

"What is that?" I asked.

Nessie gasped in delight. "The pack, Jacob. They heard you…and they're celebrating." She rolled over so that she was facing me. Her hand, when it pressed to my cheek, was warm, and I cherished it. There were tears in her eyes when she said, "I'm so very proud of you, Jacob. So, so proud."

Love swelled up in me so fast I thought I was going to bust. Hearing that from her was the most treasured thing she could ever say. All my life I had strived to make someone proud. I had never thought that I could make her proud, especially after everything that I'd done, that I hadn't done. After my actions and reactions to situations, I had felt like I was constantly kicking myself in the ass and promising myself and others that I would quite screwing up. But Nessie telling me that she was proud of me meant that she recognized everything that was going on and was still content to stay by my side. It told me that she still accepted me for everything I was, am, or ever would be. She loved me for who I was and who I had become no matter how scary I got. She would stand by me because she was proud of the man she called lover.

After we shared an equally warm kiss, she and I snuggled down into the blankets, her head on my chest, my mate safely tucked into my arms, as we both fell asleep to the sound of our pack wishing us a goodnight.

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**Mhm...so. I don't think I need to say anything besides please review. I love them so. And I love you. xoxoxoxoxo**


	24. Chapter 24

**Bwahahahaha! I have returned with chapter 23! Yes, yes, I've been gone for ages, but I'm back! And so far, this is my favorite chapter. I wrote it and rewrote it until I loved it. Oh, yes, and a new POV. Not sure if I'll write in her POV again, but we'll see how popular she is with you guys. Anyways, I'll quit ranting now.**

***Disclaimer***

**Please Enjoy!**

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**RPOV**

I knew the moment Jacob was asleep. His whole body went limp as the tension drained out of him. Not to mention, his soft snores immediately filled my ear.

I waited just a few more minutes before I quickly replaced my body in his arms with my pillow. Hopefully my scent would keep him out just long enough for me to get up to the kitchen to take some Advil or something in preparation for the soreness tomorrow. Maybe I could get it to dial down before it even started hardcore. Already there was a tightness in my lower body as if every muscle were cramped up tight at the same time. Though I liked the pain and tightness, I knew Jacob would beat himself up over it, so this was for him. Maybe one day I could get him to stop worrying and asking if I was ok. Frankly, it was getting annoying. He should know me well enough to know that I'd say something if it was too much for me.

Grabbing my robe off the back of the chair that was next to the bedroom door, I quickly put it on and rushed quietly up the stairs to the kitchen. The cabin was dark and quiet, the fire having burned down to glowing embers. Luckily a small light under the kitchen cabinet was on, flooding just the counter with a warm glow.

The medicine was in one of the top cabinets, so I had to do a little reaching. Going up on my tiptoes was a little awkward, but the stretching felt good.

Opening the bottle, I shook out a few of the coated pills and popped them into my mouth, swallowing them down with water from the sink faucet. I had just shut the cabinet again when I heard a noise above me.

Going perfectly still, my eyes rolled up to the ceiling even though I knew I couldn't see through the floor. Vampires were talented but that was one talent nobody in my family possessed. So I waited. Maybe it was just a settling of the house type of noise.

After a moment of nothing happening but listening to my heart, I made to go for the stairs to our room when the creak came again. Immediately my heart jumped into overdrive as I whirled for the stairs that led to the third floor. The light under the cabinet didn't reach that far to the foot of the steps so they were utterly black.

Biting my lip, I took a step forward. "Hello?" Another creak sounded off. "Anybody there?"

Maybe one of the boys had decided to crash, especially if Embry was up here with Adam and Derek. They could switch off patrols while one of three slept in turns. Or…I looked back to the stairs that led to my and Jacob's room. Had he sneaked behind me? Getting me back for leaving him in bed?

I shook my head. No, he wouldn't do that. Turning back around, I swallowed hard and went for the stairs.

"Derek? Adam? Embry?" I said quietly so as not to wake Jacob. "If it's one of you up there, this isn't funny. And I'm coming up." Pausing to listen, my ears strained against silence…until another creak of the floorboards sounded.

One foot on the first stair, my heart in my throat pounding out a rough beat, and I-

"Did you really think that that pillow would keep me asleep?"

With a shriek, I whirled around to find Jacob leaning on the kitchen counter in a pair of boxers. Clutching my chest, I sagged down to sit on the step I'd just been standing on.

"Jesus, Jacob-,"

"I hurt you, didn't I? You came up here to take some medicine." He held up a hand. "And don't lie. I can smell it, the medicine, in your body."

Staring at him incredulously, I wondered why he was being cold and not asking why I was so freaked out. Instantly, I was pissed off.

"Yeah, I took some medicine. So, what? I knew you'd beat yourself up even after I kept telling you that I'm fine, so I took it for you. I love you and I want you like that, but not if you keep that crap up. And if you're in any way curious as to why I'm freaked out, I heard something upstairs. Why don't you go check it out since you wanna be such a tough guy with me _out_ of bed."

Fuming, I marched passed him, hitting him with my shoulder and went for the stairs. Just before I went down, I turned back to him.

"For your information, tonight was perfect. Any time with you is perfect, but if you keep up with this whole beat-yourself-up-for-stuff-you-didn't-actually-do shit, I won't want to be with you all the time, Jake. Just remember that. Tonight was perfect."

"Ness-,"

Before he could say anything else, I went down to the bedroom and went for the closet. I wasn't so mad that I didn't want Jacob in the bed with me, but at the moment, I didn't want to be naked in bed with him. So I threw on some thin cotton pajama pants and one of his old t-shirts. It still smelled like him and it reminded me of the old days where we were just friends and nothing was all that complicated. At least not on my side.

As I crawled into bed, I heard Jacob's heavy footsteps going up the stairs and then was silent. A moment later, he pounded back down the stairs. Instead of coming toward the room, the sound of the front door being unlocked and the security system beeping made its way down to me. The door closed again and the house was silent. He must have gone outside to talk to the boys.

While he was out there, I thought about all that had happened tonight. It seemed that the pack had successfully tapped into their abilities, some easier than others. And Jacob was the king of them all. When I'd first met Caden, I'd thought that Jacob wouldn't win against him. He was too wild, where Jake was too willing to give people a chance. But now? Jacob's wolf was willing to get his human body's hands dirty, and Jacob was willing to let his beast take over if it meant the safety of our territory and people. I knew that because when I'd told him that I was proud of him, it seemed that that had been what he'd been wanting to hear. Some sort of acknowledgement of all he'd been through and sacrificed of himself along the way. And I was proud of him. He just needed to learn to trust me, to trust that I knew what I wanted and that I was sure of what I wanted, and how I wanted it.

Lying on my back, I twirled my engagement ring over and over my finger. God, I just wanted all this crap to be over. I wanted to marry Jacob and concentrate on starting a family. All these bumps in the road were turning out to be sinkholes that we barely managed to hopscotch across before being fully enveloped by darkness.

About five minutes later, Jacob came back down the stairs and paused just a moment as if surprised that I was in the bed. When he didn't come directly to bed but went for the closet, I sat up.

"What are you doing?" I asked. He was in a pair of boxers. That was dressed enough for a guy. And I knew he wouldn't sleep in a shirt no matter what.

My heart skipped when I saw that he had a blanket in his hand as he walked toward the bed. I knew what he was thinking. And he was wrong.

So, I joked with a little, really fake laugh. "I don't need another blanket, Jake."

He smirked briefly but reached for his pillow. I gripped his wrist. "You're not going anywhere," I said with more of a command than request.

His eyes widened in surprise. "But, you-,"

"I snapped at you, yes. I had every reason to, but that doesn't mean I don't want you next to me." I pulled him down by his arm to sit next to me, wrapping his arm over my hips. "Jacob, every time the possibility of a fight comes, we run away from it. I'm not saying that I want to fight, but we really need to go over this 'are you ok' crap."

He took a deep breath as we stared at each other and tightened his fingers on my hip. "Ok."

I took my own breath. "Ok."

"What are you thinking?" he asked in a quiet tone.

"Jacob, do you trust me?"

His whole body jerked. "Of course I do. How could you ask that?"

"Then why don't you believe me when I tell you I'm fine? I'm not glass, Jacob." I shifted around so I could face him. "I don't really know how to explain this, but we're the alpha couple, right?" When he nodded, I continued. "Ok, well, I love you being a primal male, wanting things rough, wanting _me_ rough. Remember? I'm your perfect match. What you need is what I want, ya know? If you need a night of rough sex instead of love-making, I'm so there with you. Every time. I don't need you to ask me if I'm ok or if you hurt me. I mean, yeah, I took some medicine because I know how we are in the morning. We like to be all over each other, and I don't want that to change on account of me. That passion between us is what so many couples lose. Jacob, I can't lose that with you. I don't want to."

Jacob gripped my hip harder and leaned into me. "You won't. _We_ won't. I just-I just need to make sure that you're ok. You are the only reason I'm still here. There is no doubt in my mind that I'd be dead right now if I hadn't imprinted on you."

"Don't say that-,"

"It's true, Nessie. I would be. I have to make sure that I didn't hurt you."

I stroked his very worried face. "Jacob, I promise you that I will tell you if I'm hurt or uncomfortable. Remember the first time we made love? I told you the next morning that I was hurting."

"True, but you weren't going to at first."

I nodded in concession with that. "Maybe, but I made a promise to myself that I would never lie to you especially after our whole fiasco before. And I told you. But like I said then, it was a good hurt and I was just telling you so that you knew that I was ok. That I wasn't in denial. I'm telling you now that I am ok from tonight. You didn't break anything. We just have never gone that hard is all. Like any new change, it's gonna take a while to get used to it. And I promise you now that I will, we will, get used it. You can't keep the wolf on a chain, especially around me. I felt how he acted and reacted."

"And you're ok with that?"

"Jacob! Are you not listening to me? Yes, I'm ok. If I wasn't, would I be telling you all this? Would I be letting you hold me? No, I wouldn't. If your wolf had scared me, I'd have run down to my parents' cottage. Hell, I would have fought to stay in that clearing with the pack." Taking his face in both of my hands, I shook him. "Listen to me. I love you. I love him. I am your imprint. And I am thoroughly convinced that you are my soul mate. I don't need or want anybody else. You're it for me. End of discussion, ok?"

**JPOV**

"…You're it for me. End of discussion, ok?"

Proud. Now I knew what she'd meant when she'd said she was proud of me. In this moment, Nessie was putting me in my place as my alpha female. I may be head of the pack body, but she's my neck, turning me in the direction I need to be in. And right now, she was telling me to let her be in charge of her, to let her worry about herself and come to me when she felt like there was cause to come to me.

She shook my face again. "Ok? Are you hearing me, Jake?"

The wolf inside me resented and respected her tone at the same time. His fleeting thought was, _You gonna let her talk to you like that?_

My response was, _Shut up. She's right._

"Yeah, baby. I hear you. And I'm sorry. You're right. You've told me that over and over. I guess it's just reflex. But I swear to you that I will try, ok? I'll try to catch myself. If I do it, you can punch me or something, but you might need a crowbar. I don't want you breaking your hand."

It had the intended effect. She laughed and gripped my left hand where I'd replaced my wedding band and played with it.

"You mean like mom did when she punched you for kissing her?"

My eyebrows took a hike to my hairline. "You know about that?"

"Well, yeah. Leah kind of told me everything."

"You know that kind of scares me, right?"

She laughed and snuggled up to my chest. "Think of it this way: I know everything and am still here, right?"

Hugging her to me, I swore to myself that I'd keep myself from playing the worried mother hen all the damn time. I was her fiancé, not her father. And hell, even Edward didn't bombard her with "are you oks?" every time he saw her even though he knew what we were doing in the dark. That was one thing I could say for him; he trusted his daughter.

"That's so true, hun."

Her lips pressed to my chest before she broke away to settle into bed. I followed, wrapping my huge body around her much smaller one. Pressing kisses to the nape of her neck, I pulled her back against my body. She wrapped my arms around her waist and held them there.

"So, did you find anything upstairs? Was it one of the boys?"

Just one last lie before my resolutions kicked in tomorrow. I took in a deep breath and said, "Yeah, Embry just needed to go to the bathroom."

I could feel her frown. "I didn't hear him come in."

I cleared my throat. "Uh, yeah. He came in while we were, um, busy."

"Oh, ok."

Still rolling with the lie, I laughed into her hair. "Don't worry. He didn't see a thing." And then I thought of something to distract her. "Oh, did I tell you he imprinted?"

Nessie rolled over in my arms with wide eyes and large smile. "Really?"

"Yup."

"Who?"

"Walker's sister."

The smile immediately vanished and she pulled her lips between her teeth as she frowned.

"What? What is it?"

"Well, that might get interesting."

I stroked her hair out of her face. "Why?"

She took a deep breath and blew it out against my chest. "Tricia isn't biologically Walker's sister. She's adopted."

Well that explained why she didn't look a thing like the rest of them, but that didn't explain the sudden tension in Nessie's body.

"So why is that a bad thing?"

She flopped onto her back, stared at the ceiling and played with the ring on her finger. "You know those stories about siblings being adopted and one of them falling for the other?"

"Yeah." And then it sank in. "Wait, are you saying that Walker is in love with Tricia?"

She shrugged. "I don't know for sure. There was a rumor going around at the school about him, and he was incredibly protective of her. Shelby told me about it when Tricia first went into school. She was a year behind us. I think she's seventeen right now."

"That's what she told us. But brothers, older or younger, are always protective of their sisters. I was always that way with Rachel and Rebecca. That doesn't mean he's in love with her."

"Jake, he's as protective over her as you are with me. Tell me that you feel a different kind of protective over me than your sisters. I know you do."

She had a point. I wasn't sure how to explain it, but there was something there. "So what am I supposed to do? Keep Embry away from her? Nessie, you know I can't do that. Being away from you is always the hardest thing in my life. Every time I have to be separated from you, you're all I can think about. And Embry has been wanting this for a very long time."

She stroked a hand up my chest. "I'm not telling you to order him away. Just watch Walker. If Embry is all over her if or when she's around Walker, it could get ugly."

Leaning down, I pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Thanks for letting me know. Now, I won't be surprised if something happens."

"Hey, we have to watch each other's backs, right?" She smiled at me as she leaned up to kiss me. "Come on. Let's get some sleep. It's been a rough night."

Laughing, I went with her as she rolled, taking me with her. And I followed gladly.

**One week later…**

"Alright, ladies and gentlemen," Caden said in the middle of the clearing. "I believe we've got the surfacing and reburying of the wolves down. So now, I want to work on sensing emotions. I know that some of you can see signs and smell the differences in your human form, but a lot of you can't. Over the past week, many of you have probably been hearing and smelling new things when talking to people. You've all heard the saying 'they can smell fear'. Well, a lot of animals can sense when a human is happy, sad, angry or when they're lying and telling the truth. For example, Edward."

As one unit, the entire pack turned to the vampire, whose face was completely blank, passive as he leaned against the side of the house between Bella and Nessie. Caden walked forward to stand next to me, studying Edward.

"You're amused."

Edward's eyebrows raised in surprised.

"Your heart doesn't beat, but you're giving off a scent that you probably don't even know that vampires can give off. If I had to describe it, I'd say it smells like candy, nice and sweet, something that would make a child happy and keep them _amused_ for hours." Then he turned to me. "Jacob. Look at…Morgan."

Immediately, my eyes went to her where she was standing next to Lucas, her fingers intertwined with his.

"What is she feeling? Walk me through what you're sensing from her."

Taking a deep breath, I faced her and coaxed my wolf to the forefront of myself. I could actually feel my awareness get pushed aside and the place where I had been get taken over by the animal. He used my human eyes to watch her, my ears to listen to her body. With perfect timing the wind swept by, bringing her scent to me. My face lifted into the breeze and I inhaled deeply. There were several different scents that overwhelmed me at first.

"Jacob, find Morgan's scent, just her. Don't worry about her emotions. What does Morgan smell like?"

"Dark," I said immediately. "Roses. Spiced vanilla."

"Alright. Pick her out of all that you're scenting right now."

Opening my eyes, I stared at her while my brain processed everything. Seeing her might help me connect her scent to her.

"Good, Jacob. Use every sense you have at your disposal for this. Once you get used to picking out scents, you won't need your eyes. But good on thinking about that."

He was right. Finally, I latched onto the smell of dark roses and warm vanilla, the two scents reaching out and stabbing at my now-sensitive nose.

"Got it," I said in a low tone.

"Good. Now, sift through that. What's different? What's there that's not roses or vanilla? And remember, your first instinct is always right."

For a moment, I just let the scents sink into my brain. They were almost a taste in my mouth, something dark, bitter, and sweet all at the same time.

"Chocolate. Dark chocolate."

"And what does it bring to mind?"

My mouth spoke before I gave it the order: "Love." And then I laughed. "She's feeling love. A lot of it."

Morgan grinned at me as she tightened her hold on Lucas, stepping in close to him and resting her head on his chest.

"Anything else?"

Though nothing about her physically changed, the scent did. A tangy, unpleasant scent assaulted me. The salty tang of tears.

"Sadness." When her eyes met mine, they echoed the sadness I smelled. I looked around the clearing and found the object of the emotion. Christa was at the back of the crowd, leaning against a tree, looking just as miserable. When she noticed me looking at her, she tried to perk up with a smile, but it was too late. The same, sad scent floated over to me from her.

A clapping of hands broke the mind-meld with the emotions. I looked to find Caden with a sympathetic look on his face.

"Alright, I think we're done with Morgan. Let's try someone else."

"Who?"

His smile told me who it was before he said it. "Nessie."

Turning around, I found her up against the side of the house, watching me. It was so much easier to pick up her scent: mint and honey. Her golden aura pulsed as she smiled at me.

"Love," I said again. She smelled like warm chocolate brownies on a cold night. Gooey and melt-in-your-mouth delicious.

With a laugh, Caden said, "Well, I think we all know that. Anything else?"

Granted, I was more in tune with her so I could smell the medicine that was still there in her system, but I could also get a whiff of the aches and pains. I wasn't sure I could describe the smell, but I knew instinctively what they were. Also the bite marks on her and the bruises from last night.

What I didn't smell was anger. No heated scents coming from her. But there was something else. Something like metal. In my mind, I kept getting the image of a gold medal, an award. It was a deep scent. The image of the medal made me think of…

"Pride."

She grinned at me as her eyes started to sheen over with tears.

"I told you so," she whispered.

Not able to contain myself, I launched my body across the clearing and scooped her up into my arms, holding her around the waist. She gripped my face hard and pulled me to her lips.

"And you're not angry," I whispered back.

She shook her head. "I told you last night. When are you going to learn to trust me? I'll tell you when I'm not ok."

"Well, I could probably smell it if you lie to me now."

"I'm a virgin," came from behind me. And suddenly an acrid, rubber on concrete stench hit me.

Turning with Nessie in my arms and my face scrunched up, I found a smiling Caden trying to contain his amusement.

"That is what a lie smells like. Awful, isn't it?"

"Don't ever do that again," I told him.

Nessie laughed. "Well, at least you made a cute face."

I gave her a look. "It won't be cute if I puke on you."

It was her turn to give me a look. "You puke on me and you'll be sleeping under the porch."

"Duly noted." I turned back to Caden. "I think I'm done with the emotions thing. Teach me the partial shift and then you and I can go around to the pack."

Caden nodded. "Alright. You'll need to put her down first."

"Oh, right." I gave her a really long, deep kiss that left her swaying when I set her back down on her feet. She leaned against the side of the house and swallowed hard as I walked away. No sleeping on the couch for me tonight.

Caden shook his head and grinned. "Let's get this thing going, shall we?" he asked as he clapped me on the shoulder. "Now, I want you to try to go back to the very first time you phased. I've been told that you hurt a lot the first time because the wolf just bursts out of you."

"Oh, yeah. That hurt," Lucas said. "Very disoriented and my entire body felt like it was on fire. Not to mention, my joints didn't want to work."

"Jacob, you think you can remember all that?"

"I remember everything about that day. Don't you worry about that."

Caden nodded. "Good. Now think about that day and slow it down. Try to step away from it and view it from afar. What specifically do you remember? Be as descriptive as possible because I have no idea how this works and I'm going on a hunch."

"Ok, well, I was feeling tired but angry all day. Angry about everything. Bella was still all about Edward. That night Billy had told me that I looked weird. I nearly ripped him apart. My body started shaking, and it felt like my blood was boiling. I barely managed to make it out of the house before I phased."

"No, describe it. Details. Put it in slow-mo."

I shook my head. "Alright, um…ok. As I was going out the door, I could feel my bones elongating, almost like the growing pains that I'd felt over the couple months before that night, but so much worse. It felt like they were fracturing in my skin. My fingers and toes felt like a thousand needle were trying to poke through the skin in one area at the same time."

"Good!" He clapped his hands. "That I can work with. Partial shifting is exactly as you just described it, but concentrated in one area. From what I can tell from hearing phasing stories, your anger or whatever emotion you use to phase flows throughout your entire bodies to bring on the change and then, voila, you're a wolf. It just bursts through the skin. But partial shifting is taking control of that emotion and centering it in one part of the body. Does that make sense?"

"It makes perfect sense, actually. Let me see you do it first." I took the band that Nessie gave me and slipped it into my pocket. Didn't want anything happening to it.

He nodded and held up his hand. At first I felt nothing, but then after a moment, the air in the clearing became charged somehow. And then his hand started to lengthen as a series of crack and pops sounded out. I could actually hear and see the muscle rip under the skin. It sounded like leather being pulled apart.

"I'm gonna be sick," Shelby said behind me. Two seconds later, I heard her retching into the bushes.

Glancing back, I saw Nessie looking a little pale and swallowing a lot. She gave me a small smile before I turned back to find Caden's nails elongating into dagger-like black claws. Though he showed no outward expression of pain, I could smell it. It was similar to the smell of lying, but yet different. It was a sour acrid scent.

Once he flexed his hand, I knew he was done. The charge in the air died down.

"I couldn't do this before Alora and the boys were taken from me. After I found them torn apart in our living room, I realized I could when I imagined ripping the throat out of the vampire that did it. I wanted him to look into my eyes, my human eyes, as I tore him apart for the innocent lives he'd taken. That's the anger I channel. I don't know if you have something to compare that to or use, but that's what helps me."

As he talked about his lost family, the sour smell deepened and was joined by another. One I could only describe as immense rage. I felt really bad for him. I mean, I knew he loved Leah. Her imprint pushed him toward her, but he'd lost an entire family. An entire book of his life because of vampires. It was a wonder he could even stand to be near them, even the Cullens.

But the question was, did I have a similar hatred inside of me? Looking back at Nessie, I realized I did. Jane, that bitch bloodsucker, and Tristan had tried to take her away from me. They'd killed Jordan, and were now attacking Forks. They were attacking my family and my territory. And the wolf in me saw what Caden did: the image of Tristan seeing that hatred in my human eyes as we took him down, as we ripped him to shreds for the lives he was tearing apart.

My hands flexed and started to tingle at my side.

"Hold on to the anger, Jacob. Look at Nessie. Look at what they almost took away from you: your life, your mate, your future family."

Fully turning around, I met Nessie's eyes. They were sad and encouraging at the same time. With the anger still rolling through me, I wanted to phase, but I held it back, forcing the anger into my fists at my side. And I watched her. Before my eyes, I saw her grow, swell with a child, then holding that child. That all could have been ripped away from me if we hadn't gotten to that cabin in time. And I'd had Tristan. In those woods, if he'd stuck around, we would have had him.

Abruptly, Nessie's eyes unlocked from mine to look down.

"Jacob," she whispered.

Bringing my hands up in front of me, I saw that they were no longer hands. At least, not human hands. My nails were razor-sharp claws. The palms were long and disproportional to the rest of my arm, at least three inches longer than it had been. Fingers were long and the knuckles were big and notched.

Looking back at Ness, I saw just a hint of fear and unease. It was like she was finally tuning into the fact that Caden was turning us into monsters, dangerous monsters.

I turned to find Caden watching me with a satisfied smile. "You know what's at stake and that it was nearly taken from you." Then he addressed the pack. "All of you are in danger of losing those you love. That's where your anger comes from when you phase. When you're threatened, when your home and loved ones are threatened, you turn into something that can protect all of that. What I'm asking you to do is channel it. Jacob did. And I firmly believe that if he can do it, you can, too. You're all powerful."

As the pack started talking amongst themselves, I watched them. None of them seemed to be put off from trying, just a little wary. And then, I startled when I felt a hand wrap around mine. Nessie was there beside me with a small smile as she gripped my hand tightly. Her eyes shone with love from where her head rested on my arm. I squeezed her hand and brought it up so I could kiss her fingers. Before our very eyes, my hand smoothly and quietly returned to normal.

"Looks like the ease of phasing extends to partial phasing," she said in a low tone.

"Yeah, looks like." When she didn't say anything else, I cleared my throat. "Are you ok? I mean, can you-do you-are you still…God."

"I still love you, Jacob. And I still want you. It just startled me a little. I'm sure I'll get used to it because you need to practice, right? We'll be alright."

Digging into my pocket, I took out my ring and handed it to her. Letting go of my hand, she smiled and slipped it back onto my finger. Instantly, I felt loads better.

"Right where it belongs," she said and kissed it.

"Absolutely."

**ChristaPOV**

An hour later and we were all practicing being angry. Well, some of us didn't have to try to be pissed off. I used my dad, and it worked just fine. Bastard that he was, I had plenty of memories to get me good and riled up. Out of the three males that were walking around the pack explaining the workings of the shift, I got Jacob. It was so hard to get mad around him. He was always so sweet toward me, understanding that I truly wasn't all that happy. He could scent my sadness, as could the rest of the pack now. Morgan had been shooting me looks all night as if she wanted to talk to me. Even after my parents had left, she'd never been able to approach me after everything came out of the closet. I knew Jake had tried to hide what he was thinking but there was only so much he could do.

"It's alright, Christa. This is your chance. Let out that anger." Jacob was towering over me, his face set in soft lines.

He was a handsome SOB, that was for sure. And no doubt that he had girls crushing all over the rez, making them cry at night because he went home to Nessie.

"Christa?" Aaaaand he was staring at me like I'd lost my mind. I probably had and just didn't realize.

I shook myself. "Yeah, I'm good. Ok. Anger, right." Thinking about my parents and them cutting me off from the world and my friends, never letting me lead my own life, I felt the wolf inside me snarl and want out. But I forced the anger down my trembling arms.

"That's it, Christa. I think you got it."

But I really didn't. There was only so much anger I could throw at them. So I thought of Morgan. Perfect Morgan with her good looks, bitchy attitude, and ability to draw all kinds of assholes to her. She left me. She left me when she knew what was happening to me. Did she go to Jacob or the police? To Billy Black? No, she didn't. She let them hole me up.

With a growl, I felt the claws rip through my fingertips. Lifting my hands up, I looked through my tears at a set of monstrous claws. And then I looked back up at Jacob who looked like he was on the verge of tears, too.

He reached for me. "Christa-,"

"No!" I tried to rip away from him but it was useless.

"Christa." He pulled me into his arms and rocked a little as I completely broke down. "It's ok, Christa. Just let it out. This is tough stuff, and I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for everything."

For a while we just rocked as I cried. Dimly, I could feel my hands return to normal. And then a few minutes after that, we realized that the pack had quieted down.

"Hello?" A female voice called from the side of the house. "Jacob? Embry?"

Jacob let me go and whirled around just a gorgeous blonde rounded the corner of the house. And that's when the back kitchen door opened and the new kid, Walker stepped out. He was staring back and forth between Jacob and the girl, and for a moment, his stare met mine.

And I thought to myself, _shit just got real._

I wanted him. I wanted nothing but him. Tall with a mop of auburn hair, tan skin, and lean muscle, he was all American male, even with that incredulous look on his face as he broke eye contact with me to stare between Jacob and the girl again.

And then, I saw Nessie staring at me. My stomach dropped. She knew. I had just imprinted and she'd witnessed it. Frantically, I shook my head and started for her as Jacob stopped noticing me and went for the stranger.

Rushing through the crowd of wolves, I vaguely recalled pushing Morgan out of the way. In moments, I was breathlessly standing before my alpha female.

"Nessie, please-,"

"Did you just-,"

"Please, please don't tell anyone. Please. I don't do relationships and, this, this-,"

"Tricia? What are you doing here?"

His voice whipped both of us around.

"Walker? Ohmygod, Walker!" she squealed as she ran into Walker's arms. "I came here because I needed to talk to Jacob or Embry. But what are you doing here? I thought you were on the reservation."

Jacob walked up to them with a glare at Embry. "Uh, Tricia, answer Walker's question. What are you doing here?"

The girl, Tricia, disentangled herself from Walker, glancing between Embry and Jacob. She absently pulled a curl of hair over her shoulder and started playing with it. "I-I saw something today when I went with mom to the grocery store."

Both Walker and Embry stepped forward but Jacob stepped between them before either could get close to her. And that's when I realized Walker had feelings for her. But the way Embry was staring at her, he'd imprinted on her.

"Oh, shit," Nessie said under her breath.

Caden nonchalantly went to stand next to Walker, almost as a warning.

"What was it? What did you see?" Embry asked.

Tricia looked between all the boys nervously, like she didn't understand their reactions. "There was a girl. Um, she had dark hair with blue streaks and amber eyes. The same type of eyes I saw in the woods one time."

"What?!" Walker shouted as he moved forward.

Caden grabbed his shoulders while Jacob glared at him and stepped forward.

"Tricia, you didn't tell us you actually saw something. You said you felt watched."

"I'm sorry. I hadn't realized that I'd actually seen something until I saw her eyes today in the store."

"Ok. It's ok. What happened in the store?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, I was shopping with my mom and passed this girl. And then, suddenly, she just stopped and stared at me. I saw her eyes and suddenly realized that I'd seen them before. Maybe not hers exactly, but something like it."

Jacob and Caden exchanged a look.

Behind me, the door opened and Esme came out. "Maybe we should bring this conversation inside. Dinner's ready and I'm sure everyone else has things they need to get back to."

"I'm sorry. Did I interrupt something?"

"No, no, you're fine," Embry said, taking her hand.

When Walker bristled, Caden tightened his grip and Nessie pushed past me.

"Boys, boys, you're freaking her out." She turned to Tricia. "Hi, I'm Nessie. I'm Jacob's fiancée. Why don't we go inside and get something to eat? You can tell us a little bit more without all these eyes on you."

Once the door was closed behind Nessie and Tricia, all hell threatened to break loose.

**JPOV**

"What the hell is your problem?" Walker demanded at Embry.

"I'm just trying to help keep your _sister_ calm."

"What the hell-,"

"Shut up!" I yelled. "Christa."

She was at my elbow in two seconds. "Yeah, what's up?"

"You, Alana, and Patrick with go to Walker's house. That girl knows Tricia's scent and can find her."

"Her name is Nyla," Caden said quietly. We all turned to him. He nodded. "Blue streaked hair and amber eyes? That's her, no question. She's the one that Nessie took down that night and was born to two lycanthropes. Very dangerous."

"Shit," Walker said as he started moving. "We have to get to my house."

I jumped in front of him. "Not a chance. You're sick, remember? You can't just magically heal in two days. Your sister is fine because she knows something's up, but your parents? No way. Christa, Alana, and Patrick will go watch over them."

Walker stepped up into my personal space. "I don't have to take this bullshit from you. That's my family."

"Yeah, and what are you going to do? You've never shifted. You don't know how your own body works. And I won't have my entire family jeopardized because you want to play hero. Today, my wolves are playing the part by going to run the woods around your house. Either deal with it, or you and I are going to have words that don't involve talking. Are we clear?"

For a moment, I thought he was going to swing at me the way his fists were clenching and unclenching and the way his teeth gnashed together. But in the end, he took a deep breath and stepped back.

"Fine, but I want updates every hour."

"Fine. Now get in the damn house before I throw you inside."

Caden came up to grip the nape of Walker's neck and guided him inside with low words that I couldn't make out. Once the door was closed, I turned on Embry.

"What is wrong with you?"

He looked surprised. "What did I do?"

"You can't just be all up on her like that, Embry. Especially not around Walker."

He crossed his arms over his chest. "Yeah, well, if he'd act like her brother-,"

"He's _not_ her brother!"

With an expression of confusion and shock, Embry uncrossed his arms. "What?"

I sighed. "Walker's not really her brother, Embry. Tricia was adopted. Nessie told me that rumors went around the high school that Walker was in love with his own sister. And the way he acted just now…For now, I want you stay away from her, ok?"

"What? You can't do that to me, Jake. Seriously?"

I hated that I even had to say it, but until we could get a better feel for how the whole triangle would go, I had to keep him away from Tricia and Walker. The hostility from just this small interaction was not promising to be a good note.

So, I looked him in the eye and said, "Yes, seriously. Stay away from her. For now. I know you want to protect her. Trust me, I get it. And I'll make sure to put you on patrol for her house. But no interaction with her. Don't seek her out. And if she comes to you, you better make it short and sweet. Am I clear?"

Embry wouldn't look at me. He just shook his head and ground his teeth.

I put my hand on his shoulder. "Embry, I hate telling you that. I do. But this situation needs to be handled carefully, ok? I doubt she knows how Walker feels. And Walker is dangerous right now so you don't need to piss him off. The full moon makes him stronger, and I can't lose you, alright? You're my brother. I'm ecstatic that you imprinted, and I want this to work out. This is to help you. I'm not doing it to hurt you."

He took in a deep breath and nodded. "Ok, I get it. I'll stay away from her. Except for the patrols on her house. Every other patrol, I'm on it. I'll sleep and eat between shifts."

I nodded. "That I can handle and understand."

"What about Walker? He'll want to be at the house."

Shaking my head, I said, "Nope. He'll stay here and train with Caden. I'll let him call home but not go back. Not yet. His temper is hot right now. And I have a feeling that Tricia being around will only make that worse. Seth, Caden, and I will watch over him if and when she comes around. She sees him as her brother, nothing more. She'll be around to check on him."

"Yeah, of course she will."

"One more thing. And Edward, I know you're listening. I need a meeting with the pack and the Cullens later tonight after everyone settles in and Tricia leaves. Embry and Edward, you two gather everyone that you can. We have a visit to plan." My voice had dropped into a low bass. Out of everything that happened tonight, I hadn't forgotten that a stranger had been in my house. A stranger that was neither wolf nor vampire and yet smelled familiar.

Embry shifted on his feet. "Where are we going?"

"Up north."

* * *

***Cough, cough* Soooo? Whadya think? I'm sensing some future fights with Embry and Walker. And about Christa? Tell me what you think! I love to pick your brains. Please review?! They make me happy. Love you guys! xoxoxoxoxoxo**


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 24! Yes, it's shorter, however, I'm trying to get back into updating every other day or so, so the chapters may be shorter? I don't know. Heck, I might even be able to post another tonight. I don't know yet. But I really hope you enjoy this one. It was fun to write, and made me tear up a little. I've also been thinking about the end of this one and the beginning of the third! So excited! And I may even write one about the kids...when they're older of course!**

***Disclaimer***

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**ShelbyPOV**

Tricia was a tough girl. I had to give her that. The entire pack was gathered around the house now just milling around. For what, I had no idea. I didn't eavesdrop on Embry and Jacob's conversation. Embry and Walker were glaring holes into each other across the table. Caden was positioned behind Walker and Jacob behind Embry, just in case they tried to jump the table and strangle each other.

"So, Tricia," Nessie said, trying to cure the tension in the room. "You're a senior, right?"

She sighed. "Yeah, but I wish I wasn't even in school."

"Why's that?"

"What's the use? I mean, I'm not even planning on going to college."

Walker's head swiveled around. "Excuse me?"

Tricia glared at him. "I'm not going to college. I want more than just more school. I want to travel and do a little bit of everything. That's not possible in a classroom, jerk."

"You're going to college." Walker's tone was low and serious.

"Now you sound like dad."

He flinched. "Have you told mom and dad this?"

Tricia opened her mouth to reply but Embry beat her to it. "What does it matter? She doesn't wanna go, she doesn't have to. End of story."

A low growl came out of Walker. I doubted Tricia heard it, but the rest of us did. "Alright, _genius_, how is she going to support herself?"

"Sorry, I asked," Nessie muttered beside me.

"It's ok," Tricia said. "I don't care what anybody says. I know there's more to life than just putting a label on yourself such as a major, schooling for it, and then being stuck there because you can't afford to go back to school. I want to learn all I can. Not to mention, I've been saving up money since I was ten." She shrugged and played with the spaghetti on her plate. "And –don't laugh at me, but, I have this weird feeling that something…extraordinary is going to happen to me. I just have to wait for it. Like, it's not something I can build. I have to wait for it to come to me."

Walker snorted, but I caught the look on Embry's face like he was dying to jump up and say, _hey, that's me! I'm your soul mate!_

I shook my head at him, which made him deflate a little. Thankfully, somewhere in the room, a phone rang. Tricia jumped and dug into her pocket.

"Shoot. It's mom." Taking a deep breath, she calmed herself and pushed the send button. "Hey, mom…uh huh, I just went for a walk…sorry, I just didn't realize how late it had gotten. I'll be home soon…love you, too. Bye." She stood up, wiped her mouth with the napkin and handed Esme her plate. "The food was delicious. Thank you, but I think I should be getting home."

Immediately, Embry tried to stand up, probably to walk her out, but Jacob put a hand on his shoulder as Walker stood up. Embry didn't like it, but he did as his Alpha silently commanded.

Looking straight at Embry, Tricia smiled. "Good night. Hopefully we'll meet again."

"Absolutely," he answered with a grin.

I could practically hear Walker's teeth grind. "Let's go, Tricia. It's after dark."

"Walker," Jacob called out. When the other man turned, Jacob gave him a direct stare. "You are to only walk her halfway. Morgan and Lucas will go with you and walk her the rest of the way to the house. Do you understand?"

Again with the gnashing. "Sure."

"What's going on?" Tricia asked worriedly. "I don't understand why he can't come home. He seems fine to me, if maybe a little more aggressive."

Everyone got the shock of their lives when Walker took a deep breath and seemed as calm as he had been the day after we rescued him when he said, "I can't go home right now, Tricia."

"Why not?"

"Because I am sick. Not in a bad way or any way that you're thinking, but I have to get better, ok? Please, just trust me."

"I do trust you. I always have. You're my big brother."

With a tight smile, Walker closed his eyes and nodded. "Yeah, I am. Let's get you home."

Morgan and Lucas walked with them to the front door. And once that door was closed, we all took a deep breath. Jacob let go of Embry who slumped back into his chair and looked up at Jacob with a meaningful look. I had a strange feeling that it had something to do with Walker's reactions to Tricia and that she was adopted.

"Well, that was fun," I said dryly. "Now, Jacob, tell us about this pack meeting."

Immediately, the Cullens were in the room as wolves started trickling into the house. Seth came to stand behind me, his hands on my shoulders massaging gently.

"Alright, everyone. About a week ago, after our first training session, Nessie heard something in our house. When I went to check it out, I initially thought it was just settling noises, but there was a scent. It wasn't wolf or vampire, but it was human and one I recognized from my time up north. They're spying on us and somehow this bastard got in my house. Most of the pack and I are going to go up for a surprise visit. Emmett, Jasper, Edward, and Bella, you'll go with us and scope out the perimeter to check for signs of the other pack while I deal with the chief. The rest of you will stay down here to protect those left."

A chair scraped over the hardwood floor next to me. Nessie stood up and put her palms on the table. "Jacob, why didn't you tell me that you found something? You told me it was Embry."

No nervous twitches or deep breaths for the Alpha. He just gave her a solid set of peepers. "Because we'd just had a really good night, and I didn't want you worrying. He was no longer in the house and I'd told the boys about it. They found his scent and called in for reinforcements on both our cabin and Seth and Shelby's. There was no reason to alarm you, then."

Instead of arguing, Nessie just took a deep breath and said, "Next time, just tell me, ok? I'd rather know than be lied to or protected."

"I'm sorry."

Nessie smiled at her mate. "Forgiven, forgotten."

He smiled back briefly then looked at all the wolves. "We'll go up tomorrow in the daylight. Easier to see what's coming from far away. They get no warning, no calls, no nothing. I won't put up with this in my territory. Nessie, Shelby, I want the two of you to stay down here. If something turns sour, I don't want our two alpha females in the crossfire."

His tone left no room for argument so all I could do was nod and accept the orders I'd been given. I'm sure Alice had some baby shopping she wanted to do anyway, and Nessie was working on getting the wedding together.

I raised my hand. "I have a question. Maybe this should be for Caden."

"Go on, love," he said.

"Ok, Tricia just said that Walker is acting a little more aggressive. Could that be because he didn't shift with this past full moon? We were all expecting him to, but he didn't."

Caden took a second to think about it. "It's entirely possible. If his wolf is agitated, then that agitation could bleed over into Walker's personality. And it seems that he's already stressed when it comes to his sister. With Embry having imprinted on her, it'll make life complicated around here."

Nessie, Jake, and I all shared a look.

"What?" Caden asked.

I groaned. "Tricia's adopted."

It took all of two seconds for that to sink in, and then, "Christ, if he thinks he's in love with her, which he isn't, this is going to turn into a huge cock fest."

"Wait," Embry said. "What do you mean he's not in love with her? How do you know?"

"His scents when he was around her. All I got was protective and loyal, but not really that nice chocolaty smell. Nothing I associate with the romantic type of love he thinks he has."

Embry sat up straighter with a smirk. "Well, that's good, right?"

Caden gave him a look. "Not necessarily. He doesn't know that he's not in love with her. He thinks he is, and that's dangerous for you and her, to be honest."

"Hold up, you think he's dangerous to her?" Jacob asked.

"Absolutely. If he thinks he can win her over and another wolf comes in and swoops her away? He'll see that as a betrayal."

"Jacob," Nessie said beside me. "Can I talk to you for a moment? Alone?"

The two of them walked through the kitchen and out the back door to have a moment. Seth kept up with the massaging on my shoulders and neck while everyone went into thoughtful silence.

After a while, Embry sighed and said, "Well…shit."

Yup. That about summed up that whole interaction.

**RPOV**

Looking around the yard, I found that Jake and I were as alone as we were going to get.

"What's up, Ness? Everything ok?"

Taking a deep breath, I turned to him with the sound of Christa's voice in my head telling me not to tell anyone. There must have been a look on my face because Jacob stepped forward and brushed my hair back.

"Talk to me, hun."

"Christa imprinted-,"

"What? That's great!"

"-on Walker."

The smile slowly left his face. "What? When?"

"Tonight. How it didn't happen before, I don't know. But they had a serious moment when he first came out of the house tonight after Tricia showed up. I saw it."

"Oh, man-,"

"Jacob, she begged me not to tell anyone. Please, just keep this to yourself for now. I want to talk to her, ok?"

"Ness,-,"

I stroked his chest as he opened his arms to me. "You told me that I'm in charge of the females, right?" When he nodded after a moment, I continued. "Then, let me deal with this. Please. Christa is scared to be with someone. She's scared that she'll get hurt. The ultimate betrayal happened by her own parents' hands. She's fragile right now. And I have an idea. While you're gone tomorrow, and you'd better be careful by the way, I'll go talk to her."

He thought about it for a few heartbeats while he stroked my back and hair.

"Ok, ok. I'll let you handle this. God knows I have enough on my plate without this whole triangle crap again."

Wrapping my arms around his waist, I pressed my ear over his heart. "I have a feeling this is going to be a more dangerous triangle than we think. If we could just get Walker to realize…"

Jacob squeezed me to him. "It's ok. We'll figure this out. We always do." He kissed the top of my head. "Come on. Let's go eat a little and then go home. How does that sound?"

"Perfect. It's been a long day, and I could use a hot bath."

"Mmmm, would you mind some company?"

I pulled back so I could look up at him. "Are you kidding? A sexy, alpha werewolf in a tub with me? I think I could handle that."

His smile was all wolf as we went back inside.

**JPOV**

The next morning, the cold weather had returned with a vengeance. I knew this because I was standing in the woods watching my breath puff out in clouds of white. Most of the pack and the Cullens I'd called out yesterday were standing in front of me waiting for orders. Even the Cullens were looking to me to lead them in this.

"Alright. Here's what's going to happen. We're not up there to hurt anyone, yet. Just a show of strength and power, maybe a threat or two. The Cullens, Derek, and Adam will run the perimeter to search for any signs or scents of Tristan's pack. If you find anything, don't do anything. Just come back to join us. I want them to think I was just running a safety procedure, not trying to find something. Any questions?"

When all was quiet, I turned back to the Cullen house. Nessie was to stay here or the rez, not go back to our cabin. The same with Shelby. And they were to have guards at all times. Esme, Carlisle, Rosalie, and Alice were in the house as were Patrick, Alana, Morgan, and Lucas. Embry and two others were running around Walker's and Charlie's houses. The two lived close enough together that a patrol line wasn't impossible. I also had wolves scattered around the rez just in case this was what Tristan was waiting for. Did I like separating my pack? Absolutely not. But we knew our jobs and plans. Hopefully there wouldn't be a need for them.

From the second floor of the house, Alice's room, Nessie and Shelby watched the group, their eyes worried and scared. Seth and I both waved and gave them the best Seth and Jacob-y grins we could find, which made them laugh a little.

"Let's get this over with. I wanna be home for dinner," I said.

There was a rumble of agreement when Seth said, "Amen to that, brother."

With that, we all turned into the woods to pay a visit to our cousins up north. And to see if they were harboring Tristan and his pack.

**RPOV**

Shelby and I gripped hands as we watched our males walk into the woods. Once they were no longer visible, I forced myself to turn back to my aunts. If I didn't, I would watch those woods all day, and I couldn't do that. I had something I had to do. Christa was down at the rez. Her patrol wasn't due for another few hours so she was probably at home.

"Nessie," Aunt Alice chimed up. "I think we nearly have the wedding ready. Now, the question is do you want it up here or down at the rez?"

_Assuming none of us die before October?_ I thought to myself. Instead, I said, "Um, the rez. Yeah, definitely the rez."

Popping up off the floor, she came to me and wrapped her arms around me. "I really wish I could see what happens, Nessie. But I can't. What I can promise you is that Jacob will do anything to marry you, to come home to you. Think of this whole situation like this: he's learning to lead, and learning fast. He's becoming that dominant male that's learning diplomacy doesn't work for everything. Sometimes, things have to get rough. And he's willing to get down and dirty to get back to you."

I squeezed her hard. "I know. I just want all of this to go away."

"I know, sweetie. And all of that goes for Seth, too, Shelby. You know that, right?"

Looking over my shoulder, I saw and felt Aunt Alice hold out an arm for my best friend, who took the invitation. I wrapped an arm around her, too.

"Yeah, I'm starting to realize that."

"Good. Now, Shelby, let's talk baby, shall we? I think Nessie has something she needs to take care of."

Twenty minutes later, I was down in the rez with Patrick and Alana on either side of me. I would have brought Morgan and Lucas, but for my plan to work, I needed Morgan to stay up at the house. It wasn't long before we were in front of Christa's front door.

"You sure you'll be ok?" Patrick asked in a deep voice.

I nodded and smiled at him. "Yeah. Craig and the others are down here. I'll be fine. Besides, I don't plan on leaving the house."

The couple shared a look. It was the kind of look that told me they were finishing each other's unsaid sentences. Jacob and I had the same look on occasion.

"Fine," Patrick said. "But you call us if you need us. Don't try to be brave. If you have to, scream like a lunatic. We'll be listening for it."

"Roger that. Thanks again for walking me down here."

Alana grinned. "That's what Jacob left us down here for. We are at your disposal today and always."

Not knowing what to do with that, I said another thank you and knocked on Christa's door as they took off to I don't know where. They were probably going to stay close though, just in case.

A moment later, the door opened. Christa looked as if she were having a pajama day before her patrol shift. She was wearing flannel pajama bottoms and a girl's ribbed tank with a mug of something that was still steaming. She also looked slightly surprised yet resigned to my visit at the same time.

"Nessie, I was hoping you'd wait a couple days."

"Oh, you know me. I have to have something to do while Jake is off doing something dangerous besides biting my nails into nubs. Can I come in or do you want to do this out here?"

She sighed and moved to give me room. The house was small but cozy. A fire was lit in the small fireplace. Plush and worn couches formed a box around the flames giving the place a close, warm feel. The part of the kitchen that was visible was spotless.

"Look, would it help if I asked you sanely not to tell anyone?"

It was my turn to sigh. "Christa, you know I had to tell Jake." She opened her mouth to argue, but I talked over her. "_But_ he promised not to say anything to anyone. He's allowing me to handle this while he deals with the more dangerous issues. Why don't we sit down."

Hearing the tone in my voice as not a request but a subtle order, she slumped and went over to one of the couches and stared at the fire as she sipped on whatever was in the mug.

"I don't see that there's anything to deal with. I imprinted. He loves someone else and doesn't even know what happened. Why shouldn't I keep it that way?"

I stared at her incredulously. "Christa, do you really want to be miserable like that? Plus Embry imprinted on Tricia. You know that. I know you do. Walker thinks that he's in love with her, but he's not. This needs to be dealt with. Right now, Jacob ordered Embry to stay away from Tricia. Do you really think that's fair if that has to be a permanent order if you don't own up to the imprint and talk to Walker? At least get to know him. Maybe a spark will ignite on his end and we can avoid a catastrophe. You may be ok with suffering, but Embry? Do you really want to do that to him?"

Emotions passed over her face as her eyes once again focused on the fire. Using that distraction, I pulled out my phone and texted Morgan to get her ass down here now, like it was an emergency.

"What am I supposed to do, Nessie? I'm not good with other people. My parents kept me so sheltered and never taught me how to interact."

"Then, you need to work on that. Work up the courage to purposely interact with people." A knock came at the door. Morgan. "And you need to start with patching up old relationships that you did have."

Christa's eyes widened as I stood up to answer the door. Opening it, I found Morgan breathing hard as if she'd run as fast as she could to get here. Lucas was at the edge of the yard, watching. I'd already told him my plan so he knew there wasn't an emergency. He'd been all for mending the girls' friendship.

"What…happened? What's…wrong?" she panted out.

From behind me, "Nessie, no. I don't want her here."

"Too bad. Morgan, get in the house."

Finally, Morgan looked at me with focused eyes and then seemed to realize where she was. She started shaking her head and backing up. Glancing over her shoulder at Lucas, I silently told him to help me out. He came forward with grim determination to block Morgan's exit.

"Nessie, please, don't do this. She wants nothing to do with me, and that's understandable."

"I don't want her here, Nessie."

"Shut up!" I yelled. "Look, I don't care what either of you wants. And frankly, I don't like interfering in personal stuff like this. However, this has gone on for far too long. You were best friends at one point, and both of you have closed yourselves off even though you're both distraught. You need to talk this out. Now. Today."

Both of them stopped arguing and silence enveloped the house. I stood to the side so that they could see each other. Both women had tears in their eyes as they tried and failed not to look at the other.

"Christa, I-."

"You left me," Christa said from between clenched teeth.

Morgan said nothing. She closed her eyes and let the tears fall.

"You left me to their mercy. Jacob, Billy, hell, Charlie Swan. You could have gone to any of them, and they would have investigated. Instead, my dad told you to stay away from me and to never think about coming back…and you _listened _ to him!"

"I know, and I am so-,"

"No! Let me talk. It's the least you could do." When Morgan nodded and hugged herself, Christa continued. "I watched out of my bedroom window as you ran around with your friends and boys. I was trapped by them, my own parents. I couldn't go to anyone. I was helpless, locked off from the world, no phone, no TV, nothing. You had the opportunity to save me, your _supposed_ best friend, and you didn't! You left me there!"

Without saying a word, Morgan moved to stand in front of Christa and dropped to her knees with her head bent.

"You're right, Christa. There's no excuse for what I did and didn't do. And all this time I have been beating myself up about it. I've wanted to come to you since Jacob banished them. I just didn't have the guts to face you after you were free. And I know you needed someone to help you acclimate. If I had just told someone, things would be different. You'd be a different person, a happier person. Please, Christa, I am so, so sorry."

After that, there was no more talking. Morgan used all the breath she had to cry at Christa's feet. For a moment, Christa just stared at Morgan's bent head, and then she looked up to me as if asking me what to do.

"This is your chance, Christa. Fix it. Let go of all the anger and hurt. Mend this. Maybe it will help you with other relationships. Leave that anger with your parents. Morgan may have not gone to anyone, and yes, it may have been a bad decision, but she's willing to help you now. And begging for your forgiveness. She didn't leave you because you weren't important to her. She just didn't know what to do. It was your parents who hurt you, not Morgan."

Lucas stepped up behind me, a large, comforting shadow at my back. "She's right, Christa. Holding onto that hate is not going to change what happened to you. And it won't help fix a friendship that needs to be in existence for you to heal. We'll all help you, but Morgan loves you like a sister. Did you know she keeps a picture of the two of you next to her bed? Every night she says she sorry to that picture. All the things she's ever wanted to say to you, she has said to that picture."

Though I saw her try to hold them in, Christa's own tears let loose as she looked back down at Morgan who was curled upon herself around Christa's feet. Slowly, Christa bent down to the floor, her hand stroking Morgan's hair. Placing a finger under Morgan's chin, she lifted the other woman's tear-stained face.

She swallowed hard before saying, "I need your help. Something happened and I'm so confused. Will you help me?"

Morgan wiped her eyes, and said, "Anything. I'll do anything."

They reached for each other at the same time and cried into each other's hair. I smiled as my own tears started to flow. Lucas placed a hand on my shoulder and smiled down at me as he watched his female be forgiven by her best friend.

Grateful was definitely a word I'd use when I thought my friendship with Shelby. Sure, she was pushy and a pain in the ass and incredibly nosy, but I loved her. She was my sister and never hesitated to put me in my place. And I was always there when her tough exterior decided to crumble. Sometimes that was the war of friendship. One had to be the tough-on-the-outside type while the other was the quiet net that caught them when they fell into their emotions.

"So," Morgan said in a sniffly voice, bringing our attention back to her. "You gonna tell me what happened?"

With a relieved sigh, I shut the door behind me as we all went for the couches with Morgan and Christa sitting next to each other arm in arm.

**JPOV**

We made it to the Makah reservation in record time. And surprise, surprise. They were expecting us. A lot of the men standing around the edge of the woods were the same men that the chief had had around him the last few times we'd met. And there he was. The old man didn't look a day older.

Before we'd gotten within eyesight of them, Edward and the others had melted into the woods, running the perimeter, searching for signs of Tristan or Nyla.

"Jacob," the old man called. "What brings you up here on this chilly day?" Those sharp eyes took in all the wolves at my back, some phased out and some still human. "It looks as if you came to battle. Such a shame I wasn't warned or I would have prepared."

"You'd have still lost."

"Perhaps."

I laughed. "The only way you could go up against me and win is if you had a pack of wolves all your own."

"I know what you're thinking and I know nothing of them, except they've been sneaking into the reservation and stealing food or ripping up deer to just leave the carcasses out in the open. We've had to clean up after them."

Glancing to my left, I saw Caden barely shake his head out of the corner of my eyes. So the chief was lying.

"Anyway, that's not why I'm here."

He spread his arms wide as if in invitation. "Then, please, enlighten me as to this unexpected visit."

"You've had your people spying on me again. And I don't appreciate it."

Just then the breeze blew and I got a good whiff of the scent that had been in my cabin. The man was here with the chief. Flaring my nostrils, I sniffed the wind and watched the men at the same time. The wolf in me was sure he could pick out the right one with just a moment longer.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

The acrid scent of the lie replaced the scent I was trying to decipher.

At the lie, I was done with the games. Anger bubbled up inside me as I watched him grin at me, like he thought I wouldn't think he was lying.

"And now you're lying to me. I can smell it. And I know that the man that was in my house is here in this clearing with you." I stepped forward so that I was all up in his personal space. "Let me explain something to you. This is over. It ends here. You and your people stay the fuck out of my territory. They do that and I won't have reason to come up here again. And let me assure you that the next time I have to come up here because of this shit, it won't be to talk. I will rip you apart in front of your tribe."

As I spoke, the smile left the chief's face as if he were letting the words sink in. Now, he swallowed hard with angry eyes.

"My, my, Jacob Black. You never threatened violence before. You were always such a diplomatic man, always up for a negotiation."

"This isn't a negotiation. I'm done with you. If I find another of yours in my territory, I will send him back to you in pieces. And one more thing, since those other wolves are enemies to my tribe and family, I will consider anyone harboring them or supporting them an enemy of mine. Best you remember that."

With that, I turned to walk away. Caden and Seth came with me.

As we walked, Caden said softly, "He was lying the entire time."

"I know. But I'm not bluffing. I'm giving him the chance to get away from them. If I find that he's still in contact with them when we finally catch them- and we will- I won't hesitate to cut him down."

From behind me, the chief called out to me. "Will you kill all my men and leave my women and children helpless?"

With a deep breath, I turned back to him. "Only those that aggress against me. All others will be spared. All I want is peace between us. You leave us alone, and I will gladly never find a reason to come back up here. The call is yours, chief. Make it a good one."

A gave him one last serious moment of eye contact, and then turned to leave with my pack to go back home. Most of us phased, including me. I knew Caden wouldn't, so I gave him my ring to hold onto. Surprisingly, he kept up with us in his human form.

Halfway there, Edward and the others joined us.

Edward came to run beside me. "He was lying. There are trails and scents all over the place around the perimeter, but none actually going onto the reservation. We found the leftovers of tents and campsites." I growled but he continued over me. "That's not the worst of it, Jacob. They're heading towards Forks. Once we ran the perimeter, we followed the freshest trails. They're hunting, Jacob. Hulking in the shadows around houses, probably trying to blend in with their human forms. Caden was right.

"They're recruiting."

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**Dum, dum, duuuuum...So, should they go to war or not? Will the Makah chief see to reason? I don't know, either! So PLEASE review! You guys have been so awesome with your support. I love you guys! xoxoxoxo**


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 25? Already, you say? Well, I was told that I was tease and that I absolutely had to post tonight. You know who you are. So here it is. I actually very much like this chapter. Drama, drama, drama, but with a nice light ending. I probably won't post again for another couple days. I gotta get my notes together and in order.**

***Disclaimer***

**Please Enjoy!**

* * *

**RPOV**

Later that night, Jacob called everyone that wasn't on a patrol shift up to the family house. Wolves were standing in and outside, listening through the rooms and windows. Jacob was standing at the head of the dining room table, arms supporting his weight on the wood as he thought about what he was going to say. When he'd gotten home, he'd pulled me aside to tell me what had gone down, and I knew that something was bothering him.

Standing behind him, I could see his back expand with his breathing.

"When I threatened him, I wasn't lying. Some of you think that there's a diplomatic way to handle this, but I've tried to negotiate and _be_ diplomatic. It's not working, especially since the chief has a psychotic werewolf whispering to him about how we're traitors because of the Cullens and the fact that I'm mated with Nessie." He took a deep breath. "I want you all prepared for a war. Tristan is recruiting, fishing in our pond for packmates. The Makahs will go to war with us if they don't see to reason. Unfortunately, that means killing humans. I have to fight fire with fire. Sitting back and hoping for a different outcome is not going change anything."

From his spot next to Shelby, Seth stepped forward. "What happens when they outnumber us, Jake? I mean, it's going to happen. Even with humans on their side, they still have weapons, guns."

Another deep breath, and then he looked over at Caden. "Looks like, if it's ok with the Cullens to use their funds, you're going back across the pond. We have to do our own recruiting. "

"Of course," Dad said. "Anything you need."

"And I'm going with him," Leah piped up.

As expected, Seth started shaking his head. "No. You're going to stay here."

"Seth, you wouldn't let Shelby do something like this alone. I won't let my imprint go without me, and this needs to happen. You're my little brother, but I have to do this with him. Plus, I'd be able to explain about our type of werewolf. And be able to explain the vampires and Nessie." She looked over to Jake. "You know I have to do this. Nessie can't go."

Jacob took another breath and looked back at me. I nodded my agreement. It had to happen. Again, we needed witness and help.

"Rosalie, Emmett, would you go with them? Maybe with you being there, it would be easier to sway them."

My aunt and uncle shared a look before nodding solemnly in unison.

"When will we go?" Caden asked.

I looked to Uncle Jasper as did Jacob.

"It'll take a couple months for me to get the paperwork in order. If I can get the order to my contact tomorrow, it should be ready right after the wedding, assuming it's still planned for October?"

He looked to Jacob who looked back to me and then back to my uncle. "Yeah, it's still set for October."

Uncle Jasper looked over to Caden and Leah. "Then we better get you guys ready to go over there."

"There are also packs across the U.S. I'll see if any of my people over there have any contact with them here," Caden said.

"Caden, I need to know about Tristan's pack. Are they all psycho or just the higher-ups?"

Rubbing his face, Caden shook his head. "Honestly, I don't know. A lot of them, I knew before Tristan came around. Over there, I wasn't part of a pack. I was a lone wolf, but I had contact with other packs. There were alliances and friends made. All in all, I think that maybe they just bought the lie. If, and that's a _big _if, I could somehow talk to them, maybe I could reach a few."

"I thought you already tried that and they fought you?"

Caden shook his head again. "Not all of them. It was just, as you said, the higher-ups. Why don't I do some rounds in the town in human and wolf form. Maybe I'll run into someone. If I do without a higher-up around, I'll talk to them."

Jacob nodded. "Good. Where's Walker?"

"Right here."

A moment later he stepped out of the kitchen. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Christa shift uncomfortably and drop her eyes to the floor. Morgan wrapped her arm through her friend's and rested her head on Christa's shoulder.

"What's up?"

"I want you training with Caden as much as possible. You need to get back to your parents' house. I want someone there twenty-four seven. The patrols in that area are for both your house and Nessie's grandfather's. There aren't eyes on it at all times and we need that right now with the threat in Forks. So as soon as you can, you're part of guard duty. Also, we need eyes on Charlie as well."

"Bella and I will do that." Dad said.

Jacob nodded. "Good. Patrick and Alana, you will stick to Shelby like gum on a shoe. The same goes for Adam and Derek with Nessie. Christa, Morgan, and Lucas, I want you all down with Sam and Emily. Help the wolves on patrols down there keep an eye on Billy, too. I also need someone on my sister. Not you, Paul. I need you on patrol lines."

Paul shook his head and clenched his hands into fists. "Fine. Then I want Blake and Sadie on her."

Jacob thought about it as if he weren't sure why Paul was picking those two to watch his wife. But it made sense, I suppose. Blake and Sadie trained with Patrick and Alana with weapons. Both pairs were good at making a weapon out of anything near them.

"That's a good choice, Paul," I said in support.

Jacob turned back to me with a question. I shrugged. "It makes sense to me."

He nodded. "Ok. Did you two hear that? Sadie, Blake, you stick to my sister. She'll try to shake you off and tell you that she doesn't need you. If you have to, tie her up and duct tape her mouth until this is over."

The two wolves stepped forward. Sadie was like Christa. Her mother was half Quileute and her father was from Florida. Long, platinum blonde hair was plaited down her back with the tail just brushing the small of her back. There was a rumor that she kept a large knife in there somewhere. Frankly, I was fine with never knowing the answer to that.

Blake was full-blooded Quileute with the high cheekbones, russet skin, and ink-black hair to prove it. He was tall and almost painfully lean. The gauntness of his cheeks made the cheekbones even sharper making him look like a snitty aristocrat from movies and books.

"Loud and clear, boss," Blake said in a low bass voice.

"Good. Those of you specifically assigned guard duty, pick out another pair so that you can hand off shifts and get some sleep. I'll trust you to pick out the others. Every new patrol and guard shifts start tonight. Seth, have someone replace me on patrols. I need some time to think and come up with plans."

"Will do."

"Alright, everyone, let's break up this shindig."

As everyone started to disappear into the woods and the house started to empty, Jacob resumed his position of leaning into the table. Sensing that he needed some sort of support, I moved up behind him to wrap my arms around his waist and rest my cheek on his back. Just listening to him breathe made me want to just cuddle down in the dark, this time with me holding him just like this. It seemed like an awkward position, but it felt right.

"Sounds amazing to me," he whispered.

Apparently, I was back to projecting again. As he straightened up, I pressed a kiss to the middle of his back before he reached back to pull me around. Tiredly, he wrapped his arms around me and just held me to him. This time, however, it felt as if I were the one doing the holding, keeping him together.

"Jacob, I want to tell you something."

"Ok." His voice was muffled from his face being mushed into my hair.

"Well, I need you to listen. Are you listening?"

I felt him nod against me.

"Good. Look, to do what you're doing, to be selfless for the people you care about, that means that you have to give up a piece of who you are. And I think I speak for the pack and my family when I say that we respect the hell out of you for what you're doing."

He pulled back so that he could look me in the eye. "How the hell are you so smart about these things?"

I laughed. "A normal girl would be insulted about that, but me? I know the man I love. And I know that this is tearing you apart. Ever since I was old enough to understand, I knew that you always felt that talking could fix a situation. But now? You're preparing for the worst instead of just hoping for the best alone. And that is a sign of a great leader. I hope it doesn't come to war, but I am so proud of what you're doing. And I know that you're trying your hardest to protect everyone, but it can't just be you. They have to help out, too, you know. Some people don't want to be helped. The Makahs? You've tried so hard to protect them, even when they called you traitor. Even now, you gave him one last choice. It's up to him, Jacob. You can't save everyone. They all make their own decisions."

He hung his head so that our foreheads pressed together. "I know. You're right."

"You've done everything you can so far. Now, it's a waiting game to see what their next move is. So, let's go home and let me cuddle you up like you used to do to me when I was feeling crappy."

He laughed. "Sounds good. I think I could handle a night of just cuddling."

Craning up, I pressed a kiss to his mouth. "See? You are the perfect man."

Against my lips, he said, "You overestimate me."

I shook my head, lips rubbing over his. "You've never let me down once. That's perfect in my book."

"God, I love you."

"Then, shut up and kiss me."

And kiss me, he did.

**JPOV**

I woke up to the sound of my phone ringing. But it wasn't coming from the bedside table where I usually put it before bed. Why was it coming from across the room? Oh, right. As soon as we'd gotten down the stairs, Nessie had insisted on stripping me out of my clothes where I stood and putting me in the bed. She'd quickly followed and snuggled up behind me. To be honest, it was a little weird at first, but after a while, it felt good to let her do the holding.

Groaning, I lifted her arm up from around my waist, got out of bed, and padded over to my pile of clothes. Digging my phone out of my jeans pocket, I found that it was Caden calling.

Hitting the button, I said, "Yeah," when I finally got it to my ear.

"Jacob, you need to get down here. Now."

His tone was better than any strong coffee at waking me the hell up.

"What is it? What happened?"

"Jacob?" Nessie said sleepily from the bed.

"Charlie is here at the Cullen house. Something big and bad went down in the town. Charlie wants to talk to us, especially Walker. Just get down here…and bring Nessie. Nobody needs to be alone right now."

Instead of screaming and demanding he tell me what happened, I just said, "We'll be down in five," and hung up.

Turning around I found Nessie sitting up with the sheet around her chest. "Jacob, what's going on? What happened?"

"Something happened in town. Charlie's down at the house and he wants to talk to me and Walker. Get dressed. I won't leave you here. You can sleep on the couch."

With a nod, she did as she was told, and as promised, we were down at the Cullen house in five minutes with Derek and Adam flanking us in wolf form. It shocked me to find Charlie's police cruiser in the drive. Sue had made him get a "civilian vehicle" so that he didn't stop traffic unnecessarily.

Nessie and I shared a look.

"Must be police business," I said.

"Gee, ya think," she replied with a yawn.

Dawn was on its way, barely any light to the east, but just enough to tell me that it was morning.

Before I could even step one foot on the first porch step, Charlie came busting out the screen door.

"What hell is going on? I thought you guys had your…weirdness under control?" he demanded, brandishing what looked like a bunch of photos.

"What? What are you talking about?"

Caden came out the door next and crossed his arms over his chest. "Charlie, show him the pictures."

Without a word, Charlie thrust what was in his hand at me. Once I took them, he turned away with his hands on his belt. After giving a look to Caden, who nodded, I looked down at the pictures. Whatever was on them, my brain refused to process at first. It just looked like a mess of jumbled shapes. And then, beside me, Nessie gasped and clapped a hand over her mouth. I glanced at her, and when I looked back at the pictures, I saw it.

It was of the two lane road that ran between the Cullen property and Forks. But it wasn't the road that had Nessie gasping. It was what was _on_ the road. A body was sprawled out over the yellow line. The next picture was in color, and I was quite thankful that I hadn't eaten breakfast yet. The body was ripped apart, eviscerated, and blood was pooling everywhere.

"What the hell is this? When did this happen? And _who_ is this?"

Charlie whirled around and pointed at the picture. "That is the picture of a murder scene. It happened sometime last night. I'm waiting on a time of death. And his name was Luke."

"What?!" Nessie burst out. "_That's _Luke?"

"You know him?" Charlie demanded.

Nessie took a step back from the forcefulness of her grandfather. "No, not really. I went to school with him for that one year I went to Forks High."

And suddenly, it all clicked.

"Charlie, why are you here with these?" I asked, my tone suggesting I already knew the answer.

Charlie glared at me. "Come on, Jacob. The kid was torn apart, clawed open by massive claws. Now, you told me that your wolves weren't killers. If that's true, then what is this?"

"Charlie, we didn't do this. You know-,"

"Is he actually dead?" Caden asked from the porch. When Charlie turned a glare on him, he said, "All I'm asking is that are you sure he's dead?"

"Yes, I'm _sure_. He had no pulse and wasn't breathing. Besides, how could anyone survive that type of damage?"

"And all that blood was his?" Nessie asked in a thin voice.

Clearly taken aback, Charlie opened his mouth, closed it, and tried again. "Actually, no. A lot of it was deer blood."

Caden and I exchanged a look.

"We need to see the body," Caden said.

Now, the incredulous, angry Charlie was back. "Are you crazy? Absolutely not."

"It's direly important that we do."

"Why? I mean, you seem to be a good kid, but I don't know you."

"You trust me though."

Charlie scoffed. "Oh really? And how would you know that? Because you're dating Leah?"

"No, because you trust Jacob, and Jacob trusts me."

Oh, great. He was dragging me into the fight. Awesome. I sighed. "He's right. I do trust him. Especially on this."

The police chief studied me for a moment angrily. "Fine. _But_ you have to tell me what that look was just now."

Another look passed between us before Caden nodded at me, letting me take the reins on that one.

I took a deep breath. Nessie took my hand and squeezed it reassuringly. "Deer have been getting ripped apart in the woods and left there. That's not how we hunt, Charlie. It's not us. Remember that pack last year that was after Nessie?" When he nodded, I continued. "They're not after just her anymore. They're after all of us. I'm guessing that this," I held up the picture, "is a message to me, to us."

"So you're saying it wasn't Walker?"

It was Nessie's turn to share a look with me.

"Uh, why would it be Walker?" she asked.

"Because he and Luke had a bad falling out before Walker's 'accident'." He made the quote marks with his fingers.

"What-,"

The screen door creaked open.

"What's going on?"

We all turned to find Walker in a pair of sweats and a case of bedhead.

I turned to Charlie and held the pictures to my chest. "Let me talk to him. Please."

He threw his hands in the air as if he'd given up on the police side of the situation. "Fine."

I went up the porch steps with a glare at Walker. "Back in the house. Now."

Thankfully, he went without argument. I stopped him with a hand on his shoulder when we got to the living room.

"What's going on?" he demanded.

"You didn't tell us you had a falling out with Luke."

His expression told me that wasn't what he was expecting. "I didn't think it was relevant. I'd been attacked by a giant wolf, not him."

Ignoring the sarcasm, I ground my teeth. "What happened between you two?"

He glared at me. "Tricia happened, ok? He went after her when I wasn't around and scared the shit out of her. I dropped him right then and there."

"Let me ask you something. Does your sister know she's adopted?" Couldn't hurt to ask. Besides, it could help with the whole imprint thing going on.

His eyebrows shot up in surprise. "How do you know about that?"

"Did you really think Nessie and Shelby wouldn't tell me? Come on. Now answer the question."

"Yeah, she knows. Mom and Dad told both of us a week after she turned sixteen. We both kind of figured it out anyway. I mean, look at her. Either my mom cheated with the mailman or she was adopted. And my mom would never cheat." He shook his head as if trying to clear it. "What does all this have to do with Luke and the police chief on the doorstep?"

I took in a deep breath. "Luke is dead. Or at least, we think he is."

"What?!"

"He was attacked, just like you were."

"Then he's not dead."

"Walker, my gut is telling me he is. You were supposed to be a recruit, but I think Luke was a message." I held out the photos to him.

He didn't look at them as he took them, just kept his eyes on me as he swallowed hard looking shaken for the first time since he first saw Morgan phase. Finally, he looked down. A whole minute passed before he looked away, his breathing uneven. The colored photo was on top and I guarantee he was trying to get his brain to process what his eyes were seeing.

Holding them out to me, he said, "I didn't do this," in a dead voice. "Yeah, I didn't want Luke near my sister. He had bad tendencies toward girls, and I'd had enough when he went for her. But I would never do something like this."

"Did you go out last night?"

He shook his head. "No. I stayed up talking to Caden. You said you wanted me training, so I came up with some questions. We'd been up all night when Charlie knocked on the door."

I sighed and clapped him on the nape of the neck. "Alright. Let's go tell Charlie that."

"You believe me?"

"Of course, I do. If you were lying, you wouldn't have used Caden as your alibi since he's here and could dispute that."

As we walked back out onto the porch, Charlie turned to me with a question in his eyes. I shook my head telling him that it wasn't Walker.

Charlie pointed a finger at me. "Listen, Jacob. I'm willing to trust you only so far. Whatever is going on, you need to take care of it. This boy's parents are demanding answers that I can't give them. Fix this before my entire town gets turned into giant, ravenous dogs. Understand? If I have to send hunters-,"

"No!" Caden, Nessie, Walker, and I shouted at the same time.

"Grampa, you can't send people into those woods. Obviously, this other pack cares nothing for humans. Give us some time. We have a plan."

"What am I supposed to do, Nessie? Walker's 'sick', and another kid is dead."

"Put into effect a curfew. These attacks are happening at night. Nobody out past a certain time unless absolutely necessary. I'm willing to bet that during the day, they're walking around in their human forms scoping out the town. Why don't we do the same? I mean, we know that their scents are the same in human form and wolf, whereas our wolves aren't like that. They'd have less chance of figuring out it's us until it's too late and we have them." She turned to me. "Jacob, you were talking about being proactive instead of reactive. Well, let's do it. Instead of all these patrols, let's put our wolves in the town. The patrols don't make sense anymore anyway since we know they're already in the town."

To be honest, I was surprised at how well Nessie was handling this. A kid she'd known was dead, and yet, here she was keeping her cool and thinking rationally. She really had gone and grown up on us.

"She has a point," Caden said. "We can still run the old patrol lines to keep an eye out for…other enemies. But we run circuits in the town both in human and wolf at the same time. That way if they catch us watching them and they try to flee, we still have a chance."

"Yeah, but if they catch onto what you're doing, can't they just leave?" Charlie asked. Finally, he'd calmed down enough to think things out with us, which was good. We'd need him for this plan to work.

Caden shook his head. "No, they're here to stay. Tristan wants Jacob's head on a stick, probably literally. He's that barbaric."

"Jesus, what kind of world is this? This stuff actually happens?"

We all nodded in unison.

Charlie rubbed his eyes. "Alright. I'll get a curfew in effect starting tonight."

Caden and I shared another look. I had to warn Charlie. "Just be ready for more reports of attacks, or reports on large dogs."

"Why is this even happening?"

I looked to Caden to answer that one.

He sighed. "Tristan is looking to find new packmates. He'll attack them and do things to them that a sociopath would and leave them. If they survive, they'll sense the pack and come looking for him for answers. It was just good timing that we found Walker on a patrol."

"So, this Tristan is using Forks as a recruiting center?"

"That's exactly what I'm telling you."

Turning away from us, Charlie scrubbed his face with his hands. "Do you really think this plan is going to work?"

"It's the only one we have, grampa," Nessie said in a calm voice. "We'll keep you updated, but we also need help from you."

"Like what?" he asked suspiciously.

Caden stepped up. "Any reports of odd happenings. Animal disturbances of any kind. Anything that's out of the ordinary."

"What about missing people?"

Caden glanced at me. "Have you had any missings?"

Charlie nodded. "Just one."

"Jeremy."

We all turned to see Walker lose the color in his face.

"How did you know that?" Charlie asked.

Walker swallowed hard. "His mother called me to ask if I'd seen him back in February. He and I weren't tight, but I talked to him a few times in school. We had a couple chemistry projects together so I'd been over to his house a few times."

"We never found the body. But the dogs did find some blood in the woods."

"Where was he last seen?" Caden said. He'd moved to lean against the side of the house with his hands in his pockets.

"The grocery store. He went to pick up some stuff for his mom's bakery. She said he never came back. When we went to check it out, his car was still in the parking lot, groceries in the trunk, and keys in the ignition."

"They managed to grab him without causing a scene or a bloodbath," Caden murmured. "Hey, Walker, I know you said you didn't know him that well, but was he a happy kid?"

Walker shrugged. "Um, I don't know. I mean, he wasn't popular. Never had a girlfriend that I know of. And his dad was a total jerk-off to him, especially because he didn't play sports. Said he wasn't a real man because of it. Why?"

"He may have gone voluntarily. They talked him into just leaving everything by promising everything he didn't have: speed, strength, the ability to just go wherever he wanted."

Charlie nodded but shrugged. "That could be true, but it's not a pattern. Walker was popular, played a lot of sports, in the paper all the time."

"Walker was opportunity. He was in the woods alone. They were probably watching the party in the woods, looking for someone who didn't fit in, someone who wouldn't be missed as much when Walker got too close to them." It was almost as if Caden were talking to himself, thinking through the clues. "So Tristan does have a plan. Let's review what we know about him."

"He's psychotic," I murmured.

Caden smiled. "That certainly is true. But something is making him cautious. So, we, well _I, _know he doesn't like you, Jacob. He wants you dead, as well as the Cullens and Nessie. He truly believes the lie that Jane spun. He wants a foot hole here in North America even though there are packs of our kind of werewolf here. So, he wants to take the territory from you. Werewolves over in Europe are a dominant species, and are considered living legends even though humans don't know for sure that we exist. Here? Werewolves are myths. All the stories and videos are fake. He wants to change that. Tristan wants a kingdom over here. That man has always believed that the world should know that there is an animal that's superior to humans."

"Then we have to stop him."

"Exactly," Nessie said, squeezing my hand again.

Caden gripped Walker's shoulder. "Come on. Let's go work on the town patrols." Then he looked to us. "Why don't the two of you go back home and get some sleep? Nessie's about to fall over."

She shook her head just as she yawned again. "No, I'm ok," she said as she leaned into me.

Rolling my eyes, I scooped her up into my arms. "We'll sleep on the couch." I turned back to Charlie as Nessie sighed and snuggled up to my chest. "Is there anything else you need from us?"

Scratching his neck, he shook his head. "Not right now. I'll let you know when I can get you in to see the body, if you still need to."

Caden nodded. "I would."

Charlie came over to kiss Nessie on the forehead, give me and Caden a nod, and got into the car. We watched as the taillights disappeared.

When I turned back to the house, Caden was still staring out at the drive.

"Jacob, if we don't stop him, it's going to be a bloodbath."

As I passed him on the porch, I felt the urge to say, "Tell me something I don't know."

**ChristaPOV**

When I hung up the phone, I gave it a look like maybe it could tell me what the hell was going on. Shaking my head, I turned back to the kitchen table where Morgan and Lucas were eating breakfast.

"What's wrong?" Lucas asked as he wiped his mouth with a napkin.

I sat down in the chair in front of my mug of hot chocolate. "That was Caden. He said they've called off the heavy patrol on the outer lines."

"What?" Morgan demanded around a mouthful of waffle.

"Yeah. He said the patrols around the rez were still up, but we were going back to normal patrols around the outside. He also said that some of us would be patrolling Forks in human form."

"Why? What's changed?" Lucas wondered.

"I don't know. He said that he and Seth are going to call a pack-wide meeting tonight."

"What about Jacob?"

I shrugged. "I'm assuming he and Ness will be there. Or maybe they're taking some alpha couple time. I don't know."

The two of them shared a look and shrug.

"Anyway," Morgan said with meaning. "Let's talk about this imprinting business, shall we?"

"Do we have to?"

"Yes. You said you wanted my help, so you're gonna get it. And Lucas's, too. He's good at the gooey, romantic crap."

I sighed. "Like I told Nessie, I just don't see the point. He's in love…well, he _thinks_ he's in love with Tricia."

"But Embry imprinted on Tricia," Lucas said. "Plus, did you hear her when we were all at the house? She called him her big brother. I don't think she feels the same about him. Hell, I don't think she even knows how he thinks he feels."

"Yeah, you said that Jacob knows, right?" I nodded. Morgan shrugged. "Ok, then ask to be put on a patrol with him. Get to know him." When I gave her a look, she said, "Hey, I'm not saying you should stalk the kid. All I'm saying is make yourself accessible to him. Hang around the Cullen house more. Lucas and I are always up there. Emmett's a trip. He and Lucas arm wrestle all the time. I'm sure you'd love Esme. She could teach you to cook-," she stopped short and her cheeks darkened. "I-I mean, if you don't already know. God, I'm so sorry, Christa."

I placed a hand on her arm. "It's ok. I know what you were trying to say. Thanks."

She melted. "I really am sorry. About all of it. I should have done anything I could. Hell, I should have busted your that damn window and dragged you out myself."

"Don't, Morgan. Nessie was right. I put anger on you that you didn't deserve. You were lost. We all were. But we phased and Jacob found us. We're safe with him and that's all that matters now. My anger will stay with my parents."

"So…we're good?"

I couldn't help but smile at the childish tone in her voice. "No, Morgan. We're better than good. We're great."

"See?" Lucas chimed in. "Didn't I tell you to talk to her?"

"Oh, shut up," Morgan grumbled.

I laughed. "You have a very smart mate, Morgs."

"Yeah, don't remind me. I still have yet to find a flaw."

Lucas joined me in a chuckle.

"That's the thing about imprints. They don't have any." The instant I said it, I wished I hadn't because I knew the look she was going to give me.

Sure enough. "Exactly, so get cozy with yours. He'll flip his switch."

"Mine is different."

"Why? Because it's yours?"

"Duh. Everything about anything pertaining to me has to be funky. You know that."

She grinned at me. "I missed you so much. You were always my good half."

"And you wore my horns."

Lucas and Morgan laughed. Breakfast continued on with us coming up with stupid ideas as to what was going on with the patrols. Thankfully, they'd dropped the subject of my imprinting. I wasn't ready to deal with Walker yet. I barely had Morgan back. And I was still getting used to the ever present Lucas. Where Morgan went, he followed, and I didn't have the heart to tell him that I wasn't comfy with him. He was such a sweetheart that it was hard to even think of upsetting him. Plus, I guess it helped that he was around so that I could get used to having some one on one with males. The pack mind was one thing, but having more than a "work" relationship with someone? A guy? Yeah, right. I'd been homeschooled by my mother. And my dad? Scary as hell. Leaving the house to go out into public had not been an option for me. The backyard was as far as I could go, and there'd been nothing but grass. Not even a tree to climb on.

After a couple hours, we decided to head up to the Cullen house just in case we could find anything out early. Instead, we found the house nearly empty and almost quiet.

"Ow! Aunt Alice!"

"Sorry. Quit moving."

"Well, I would if I didn't have to breathe. Does the corset have to be so tight?"

The sound of fabric ripping bounced around the house as we walked through the foyer.

"You have great boobs. We need to accentuate those. No other Cullen woman has boobs like you do."

"Ow! Then get a push up instead of the rib crusher."

"Oh, quit whining. You helped design it."

"She has a point, Ness." That was Shelby.

Walking into the living room, we found Nessie standing on the sturdy coffee table in a white corset and silk skirting. Her hair was knotted on the top of her head so that it wouldn't get in the way of the fitting. Clearly, it was wedding dress day.

"Oh, hey guys," Shelby said when she noticed us.

"Where is everyone?" Lucas asked.

Shelby fluttered her hand toward the large picture window. "They went up to Jake and Nessie's cabin to spread out maps and such for the new patrols."

"So what's going on?" Morgan said as she followed Lucas into the kitchen. Apparently she wasn't too interested in the conversation because she started in on her mate. "You just ate breakfast."

"Yeah, like two hours ago. Oh, hey, Esme. Don't mean to be rude, but you got any food around here?"

I didn't hear the answer because Shelby started talking again.

"Nope, can't say. This is a drama free house today with wedding preparations and such. Don't wanna jinx it or anything."

"That's true," I conceded.

She patted the couch next to her. "Come on, come enjoy the entertainment."

Nessie glared at her best friend as I sat next to Shelby. "You won't be laughing when it's you up here."

Shelby laughed and crossed her arms over her stomach. "What makes you think I'm getting married, huh?"

"Oh, Seth will ask. Don't you worry about that."

"Pfft, I am not sticking my giant ass in a wedding dress. I already feel like I've gained fifty pounds."

"You look it, too," I muttered playfully.

The entire house went quiet. Instantly, I shrunk in on myself and realized that I'd been rude.

"I'm sor-,"

Shelby interrupted me. "Was that a joke, Christa?"

When I looked up to see her expression, I was surprised to find a happy grin on her face.

She wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "Welcome back to the living, sweetness. It's great to meet you."

From the kitchen, I heard Morgan giggling. She was actually giggling. Soon, Nessie and Shelby were laughing, too.

"Oh, for heaven's sake," Alice said as she pulled back on putting a pin in the skirt while Nessie wrapped her arms around her torso.

And then she cracked a smile, too, and winked at me.

I was the last to join with the mirth, but honestly, I felt light as a feather.

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**Hmmmm, what thinks you guys? Please review. You guys are freaking awesome and I wouldn't be able to do this without your support! Love ya! xoxoxo**


	27. Chapter 27

**First off, I have to tell you guys that Problems in Paradise has been nominated for an Energize WIP Award! Are you kidding me? You guys are flipping AWESOME! I love you guys so so much!**

**Now, here's chapter 26. This chapter slung so many curve balls at me that I was just as excited to see it through as you guys are. Unfortunately, not as smile-inducing as the last one. :( Alas, drama must ensue. And poor Christa in this chapter. But sometimes you just gotta stick your foot in it to get the ball rolling. And you're just gonna have to read to find out!**

***Disclaimer***

**Please Enjoy!**

* * *

**ShelbyPOV**

I hadn't known Christa long and wasn't that close to her, but I knew a breakthrough when I saw it. She was laughing, actually _smiling_ for once instead of looking sullen and depressed. Usually, she had her eyes on the floor and only spoke when spoken to. Now, after one day of having Morgan back in her life, she seemed to be gaining some sort of life charge from her best friend.

And that made me think of my relationship with Ness. If I didn't have her, what would I be like?

Well, I'd either be locked up in my dad's house still, or out on my own alone, trying to make ends meet somehow. I'd have never met Seth, wouldn't be expecting his child. I wouldn't have met the Cullens and been brought in to this incredible family. I'd be living my life in unremarkable, ordinary circumstance instead of in the eye of the storm. Though I didn't like the fact that people were getting hurt and crazy vampires wanted us dead because they didn't get the war they'd wanted, it was still a life of activity, always moving. Keeping me on my toes. Which is the kind of life I'd been itching for every night I looked out my window, dreaming of a life outside of that house.

Looking up, I caught Nessie looking at me with a knowing stare. She knew me well enough to know that I'd look at the relationship between Morgan and Christa and compare it to ours. I grinned at her.

And decided then and there that I'd let her live her life. I was always in her and Jake's business. It was my personality to want to watch over her, protect her. But she was more than capable to make her own choices in her relationship. She left me alone with Seth, so I could leave her alone with Jake. I'd wait until she came to me.

"Who's hungry?" Esme said from the kitchen door. "I made chicken parmesan." And then her eyes found her granddaughter. "Oh, Nessie, you look beautiful."

"Thanks, grandma. It's not done yet, though."

Esme smiled. "It doesn't have to be for me to know that it's going to be perfect. I can already see you running down the aisle to Jacob." She sighed. "And to finally see that boy in a proper tuxedo…I'll be sure to take lots of pictures. I doubt it will ever happen again."

"Not if weddings keep happening and Alice has anything to do with it," I muttered.

Esme laughed. "Too true, dear. Too true. Still, his marriage tux? Plenty of pictures, I promise."

"I'm sure he'll love that, grandma."

"Hmmm," Esme murmured with a frown. "I'll need to brush up on my photography. Alice, were you wanting me to do the pictures?"

Alice popped up from behind Nessie. "Oh, that would be perfect. I didn't want a photographer here, especially an outsider. But with you doing it, that would be great! If you wouldn't mind."

That radiant smile was back. "Of course not. Now, get my granddaughter out of those needles. I'm sure she's hungry."

"Starving," Nessie and I said at the same time.

See? We could still finish each other's sentences.

Grumbling, Alice went to work on getting Nessie out of all that white and needles. When she was done and Nessie was dressed in sweats and one of her man's tanks, we made our way to the kitchen arm in arm. The smell that permeated the air made my stomach rumble even though I'd had half a sandwich an hour ago. Man, this kid wasn't even born yet and still had an appetite like his father. We all sat down at the dining room table. We'd tried to get our own plates and drinks, but Esme shooed us out of the kitchen.

It was nice to be part of a family. It was also nice to know that this was the family that my child would grow up in.

"So, Christa," Nessie said. "How's everything going?"

It was asked in a normal, genuine way, but Christa acted as if it had a different meaning.

She sighed. "You haven't told Shelby?"

Told me what? I thought.

Nessie shook her head. "I already told you that I wouldn't. It's yours to tell. I was just asking if things were good now that the past is out of the way."

"Oh." And then she looked down at her food thoughtfully. "Ok, I'll tell you, Shelby, since I already opened my mouth. But you _can't_ say anything to anyone, or at least not him, ok?"

If the "him" was Seth, that was probably a no-go. But we'd see what she had to say.

"Shoot."

She took in a deep breath. "I imprinted on Walker."

I was very thankful I hadn't yet taken a sip from my glass, because I would have spit water everywhere.

"When?"

"Couple days ago. That day that Tricia came over while we were training for the partial shift."

"Oh right. The one I threw up at." I grimaced, remembering the popping and ripping sounds that came from Caden's hand. "That was disgusting, by the way." I couldn't really believe that I'd be able to do that. Maybe after the baby was born and I was all protective-mommy I'd be able to pull it off. But not right now with the little squirt making me nauseous all the damn time.

"Yeah it kind of was. But, hey, at least Seth won't make those nasty sounds when he does it. For some reason our partial shift is just as quiet as when we phase."

"Thank god for that. So, what about Walker? How is this gonna go with him infatuated with Tricia? And Embry imprinting on her?"

Nessie shrugged. "I just think that if Christa tries to spend time with him, hang around him and actually _talk_ around him, he might start leaning away from Tricia."

Morgan nodded her agreement. "Yeah, he thinks he's in love with Tricia because she's adopted and he knows everything about her. They're best friends from what I've heard. So maybe we just need to separate them a little. And if Tricia falls for Embry, it could be an eye-opener for Walker."

Just then, Esme came in. "Shh, the boys are on their way in."

Christa looked relieved. "Thanks, Esme."

A minute later, the kitchen door opened.

"Mmm, smells good, Esme," Jacob said.

"Chicken parmesan. I love chicken parmesan." That was Seth, and I couldn't help the smile on my face.

As the group of guys came into the dining room, they were laughing and throwing jabs at each other. Apparently, they'd decided to let their worries go for one day. Or they'd finally come up with a plan that everyone was confident in.

Nessie, Lucas, Morgan, Christa, and I all sort of froze when Walker walked in with Caden on his heels. He looked upset. Probably Luke's death. By now, we all knew even if they'd wanted to keep it 'til the pack meeting tonight. Christa looked down at her plate and breathed in deep before she looked back up with a smile at me. I nodded in encouragement and gave her a smile back. The dining room and table were so big that there were still open seats everywhere, and I knew those of us who knew watched as Walker moved around the table. When he sat in the open seat next to Christa, I had to bite my lip to contain my grin.

Christa cleared her throat. "Hi."

He smiled sadly. "Hey. I don't think we've met officially. And I think you know who I am, but I haven't caught your name."

"Oh, yeah. I'm Christa."

Embry came in, noticed the two, and sat down directly across from them. He stared at them with an almost psychotic, anticipatory gleam as if he expected them to get it on right here in the dining room. I was at the head of the table but I could still reach him with my foot, which I planted into his shin. He glared at me.

Looking surprised, Walker's smile grew into a genuine one. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Christa."

"Yeah, you, too. I'm sorry about your friend."

Taking a deep breath, he nodded. "Thanks. We actually weren't that close. Well, not recently. We'd been friends since third grade, though."

Christa placed a hand on his arm. "Whether a friend is a now-friend or an ex-friend, they still had a place in your life, so I can understand."

Walker smiled at her again, like she'd surprised him…again. "Charlie told me that the coroner said he went fast, so that helps a little. We may not have been friends, but I've never had someone die on me before, someone that I knew. It just…hit me hard."

"And that's understandable. Nobody's expecting you to be ok. But if you need something, we're all here, ok?"

"Thanks. I appreciate that."

They shared a smile and then looked away from each other as if realizing that we were all watching them.

As we all tucked in at the table and started talking amongst ourselves, I noticed they started light chit-chat when Alice walked into the room. She was staring at Jacob who had his face buried in his mate's neck making her laugh and blush.

Alice cleared her throat. "Jacob." When he didn't respond, she raised her voice a little bit. "Jacob."

With an exasperated sigh, he looked up. "Yes, Alice?"

"What are you doing after lunch?"

He glanced at Nessie, and it was clear he wanted to say "her", but didn't dare. But he really didn't get a chance to say anything.

"I'll tell you what you're doing," she said. "I need to measure you for your tux."

He rolled his eyes. "Alice, you've done that three times already. They've been the same every time."

She glared at him. "Well, you look thinner than you did the last time. So after lunch, I will measure you again. If you don't come willingly, I will drag you up there with the help of Emmett and Jasper." And then she turned on her heel and went back into the living room.

The dining room had gone quiet. Everyone was staring at Jacob.

"Well, she's not scary at all," Walker said.

Christa snorted. "If you think that's scary, you should see her on a shopping trip."

"Amen," I said as Nessie nodded solemnly.

"So," Morgan piped up. "Nessie, have you decided where you want the wedding to be?"

She shrugged as Jacob played with her engagement ring on her finger. "I figured the rez. I mean, the last time there was a wedding here, there were only a handful of wolves and not all of them came. That was before the wolves and Cullens became friends. That backyard is only so big."

Morgan wiggled her eyebrows. "How long do you think that tie would last on him after the two of you say the magic words?"

Nessie opened her mouth to answer, but Alice got there first. "I'm not planning on a tie, but if I were, he'd keep it on 'til the last guest left or I'd hang him with it."

"Alice," Rosalie chided. "Be nice. It's his and Nessie's day. They can do what they want with it."

We all looked with stunned expressions at each other, except Walker. He didn't really understand the whole situation where Jacob and Rosalie were concerned.

"Aw, Rose. Don't ruin it. I'd love to see Alice kick Jacob's ass," Emmett said with a pouty tone.

We all heard Rosalie sigh. "Emmett, Alice is blind when it comes to the wolves. She wouldn't be able to anticipate his moves. It would be a fair fight."

"Oh, right."

"And just for that," Alice said in a snitty tone. "You get to sew all the little beads onto the corset."

We could practically hear Rose's eyes roll. "Whatever. You know I don't care. I just want to help with the dress."

Jacob looked to Nessie with appreciation. "Corset?"

She shrugged. "Apparently, I have great boobs."

Jacob choked on the sweet tea he had just taken a sip of. As the guys around the table laughed, he glared at them. Looking away, they all went into coughing fits. Seth buried his face into my neck and laughed quietly.

"You can't argue with that, Jake," I said.

He gave me a look.

I shrugged. "It's true. Usually, skinny girls are flat as boards. I mean, look at Bella. It's a wonder Ness got anything."

Nessie laughed and made a push away gesture. "Ok, I think we can stop talking about my boobs."

"Yes. _Please_," Jacob said with a growl.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Christa grin.

"We could always talk about her ass," she said, to which the whole room burst into laughter.

Jacob sighed.

**JPOV**

It was great to see my guys so high-spirited and not so serious. Although, I could have dealt without the remarks about Nessie. The protective side of me wanted to raise my hackles. But I beat it back. They were just messing around and she wasn't embarrassed. She even joined in.

Once I was finished with my second helping of lunch, Alice glared at me until I excused myself to follow her. Nessie wasn't allowed to see any of the preparation for my tux, nor was I allowed to see any part of her dress. There were closed garment bags laid out on the couch.

Alice turned to me. "Don't even think about it."

I raised my hands in surrender, but I was curious anyway.

When we got to her room, Jasper followed us in and closed the door. I knew the drill, so I stripped down to the boxers that I'd started wearing just in case. Out of character, Alice scooped up my clothes and folded them neatly on the bed.

"Jacob, I need to tell you something. I just didn't want to freak Nessie out."

"Um, ok. Go for it."

"I had a vision. A bad storm is going to come, and with it, nothing good will happen. Since I can't see around the wolves, even the Children of the Moon, that's all I _can_ tell you."

I just stared at her. "Ok, do you know when this storm is coming?"

"Soon. With the weather changing as drastically as it has, it's normal. But the other wolves are going to sense it and use it. We're talking town blackout, Jacob. Maybe even the reservation. I don't know for sure."

I nodded. "Alright. Thanks, Alice. I'll talk to Caden, and try to keep it low."

"I thought you'd want to be the one to tell Nessie."

"Yeah, sure." Now, I felt a little awkward standing in my underwear so I gave her a grin. "So, we gonna measure me up or shoot the shit?"

Both Alice and Jasper laughed.

"You've always had a way with words, you know that?" Alice said as she came at me with the measuring tape.

I shrugged. "Not really. It's just that seeing _you_ mopey gets me depressed. You're supposed to be the never-failing happy one."

She shook her head. "Shut up and hold your arms out."

Laughing, I did as I was told.

**RPOV**

Jacob was gone for a good hour and a half. I just sat on the couch and watched everybody take turns playing video games. Having beaten everyone else, Christa and Walker were battling it out for first place in Mortal Kombat. Shelby nudged me with a grin. The two of them were hitting it off well. They'd talked all through lunch, and only later joined the rest of us in the living room.

"Jacob and I have paired them together for the town patrols."

I jumped as Caden whispered that into my ear.

As I was swallowing my heart back into my chest, he said, "It'll be less conspicuous if they look like the all American couple just walking around, don't you think?"

Looking at him, I grinned when he gave me that look that said he planned this intentionally.

"Also, I put them on Emily and Sam's house when Morgan and Lucas are doing their rounds in the town. Being around a baby makes others want one."

Crooking my finger at him to come closer, I whispered, "You are a conniving genius."

He grinned at me and kissed my cheek. "You have no idea, love."

A throat clearing loudly brought my head around. Jacob was standing in front of me with his arms crossed over his chest. His eyes were narrowed at Caden.

"You mind? That's my woman."

Caden laughed and backed up. "Easy there, Alpha. Just whispering sweet nothings."

"Uh-huh. That's my job, thank you very much."

Caden backed up with his hands up in an "I surrender" gesture.

With that, Jacob flopped down next to me, wrapping his arm around my shoulders and pulling me in against his body. With the drapes open over the picture window and the temperatures having cooled off, the house was chilly. So, it was nice to cuddle up next to the love of my life and watch my family have fun. This was the way things should be, not us worried and fighting for our lives. We should be living peacefully, mating, marrying, and having babies. Instead, we were trying to beat the game of war, barely slipping by ticking time bombs before they exploded.

But I didn't want to think about that right now. I just wanted to concentrate on this moment. The jokes, the games, the laughter. These moments would get us through the darkness that had yet to consume us. Because no doubt worse was coming.

"Hey, you ok?" Jacob asked, squeezing me a little.

I gave him a smile. "Yeah, I'm good."

He frowned. No doubt he could smell the lie now. So, reaching up, I traced a finger between his eyes like I used to do.

"In this moment, I'm good."

Leaning forward, he placed a gentle kiss to my forehead. With his lips still on my skin, he said, "I know. I'm worried, too. But we'll get through this. We have to."

"Jake-,"

"No, I won't have it any other way. Haven't you learned that yet? I'm the alpha. I always get my way." He said that last with a smile against my skin.

I couldn't help but laugh, even though I knew he didn't really believe what he was saying. I didn't have to have the ability to smell a lie to know one was there.

A moment later, Seth came through the front door. He'd gone outside with Leah and Jasper. As he came for the couch to sit next to Shelby, he nodded to Jacob. Apparently, my uncle had been able to get in touch with is contact for the documents Leah and Caden would need to get over to Europe. Uncle Emmett and Aunt Rose already had all their stuff settled. Just another reminder that we could very well lose at least four of our family. They'd be on a plane after our wedding in less than two months into a possibly hostile environment.

Beside me, Shelby took my hand with a squeeze to my fingers. We shared a sad smile. We could very well lose everybody, including ourselves, if this didn't get stopped. Not only was Tristan a danger to us, but we still hadn't heard a peep from Jane. Aunt Alice was studying Caius and Aro for signs of her return to them, but so far, nothing. She had to be around here somewhere because when my aunt tried to find her in her visions, she came up with a whole lot of nothing. Clearly, she was still around the wolves, or she'd died. But that was too much to hope for, so we were still planning for the worst. If it came down to it, we would have to contact Aro. But I would be the one to talk to him, to explain everything. Her being here with Caius's backing meant that this was mostly my fault. They didn't get the war they'd wanted because my family hadn't broken the law and I wasn't a threat to the "big secret". And according to Aunt Alice, Aro had truly only intended on checking up on me. He knew he'd lose against us. The plan to use his enemy against us was beneath him. He was royalty. If he and his army of vampires couldn't defeat a handful of vampires and a bunch of large dogs, then he'd see himself as weak, as would all others. Survival was the name of his game, but by his rules. He'd never ask a favor of an enemy to defeat another enemy. That was too peasant-like for him.

But Caius? Caius wanted all werewolves eradicated. And he definitely didn't want any of his kind, half-vampire or full, to be consorting with them, let alone mating. And wasn't that what Jane had said months ago? That I was sleeping with the enemy? She was servant more to Caius than to the other two, but Aro was head of the threesome. If he found out about their trying to kill us behind his back, well, nobody really knew what he would do. One thing was for sure, though. Aro didn't care if we were consorting with werewolves. All he cared about was his power base. As long as he stayed on the throne and the vampire secret stayed safe, he didn't care what we did.

What we were really hoping for, or at least I was, was that Caden found some of the wolves of Tristan's pack to join us. And maybe, just maybe, he could find others in Europe to help as well. We were coastal and really had no way to get word out other than phone.

Wait. Coastal?

I slapped a hand on Jacob's thigh with a gasp.

"What the-, Ness."

"Coastal," I said with a hoarse voice.

"What?" Jacob asked.

"Coastal." I turned my stare to him. "Jacob, we're coastal."

He narrowed his eyes and looked at me like he was waiting for me get sane again. "Oooook?"

I sat up excitedly as Caden came around the couch to sit on the coffee table. He and Jake shared a look.

"Ok, I know we're supposed to be enjoying family pack time, but hear me out. Let's just all agree that Tristan doesn't care to take orders, even from a vampire that can kick his ass just by staring at him."

"That is true," Caden said.

"Shh, I'm on a roll. Now, with a pack as big as his, with numbers that are near equal to ours, and his thirst for us dead, why not just blitz attack us? On patrols, or on the rez when they were light? Hm? Why not overrun us when they had the element of surprise?"

"What are you getting at, Ness?" Jacob asked.

I grinned. "We're coastal! We're trapped here. He doesn't want us to leave. Jane must have told him that the Cullens went to gather troops or whatever for the last face-off, probably saying that was why they had to tuck tail and run. Tristan is expecting us to try that again. He's got his people intertwined in and around the town. He's running patrols around our patrols to make sure we don't get out. He's waiting." Taking a breath, I tapped Walker on the shoulder. "Was Luke going to leave Forks?"

Pausing the game, Walker looked back at me with a look of understanding, like he was putting my thoughts together in his own head.

He nodded slowly. "Yeah. He was due at a big football try-out for some college. This morning. He'd told me he had an early flight."

I slapped Jacob's thigh again, which made him jump. "See? Tristan sees this as his town now. Nobody can leave without him saying so. Caden, you said yourself that he wants to build his own kingdom. Well, this is his first rule."

Jacob sat forward and put his elbows on his knees. "Yeah, but what exactly is he waiting for?"

Quoting one of my favorite fictional characters, I said in an awful British accent, "An opportune moment."

Caden chuckled but asked, "Like what?" in his own genuine accent.

"Taking out one of us for disobeying. Last night, talking to grampa, Jacob said that Luke was a message and I doubt he really knew what he was saying. But he was right. Luke was the message of what will happen if we try to leave."

"Yeah, but, Ness, people go in and out of Forks every day. He's not slaughtering them," Seth chimed in.

I thought about that for a moment. Then, the pieces fell into place. "That's true. But we don't have a connection to everyone. Tristan, Caden and the rest were here before school let out last year." I looked over at Caden. "Weren't you?"

He nodded.

I grinned again. "Luke. Connected to Walker. Walker. Connected to Shelby. Shelby. Connected to me. Me? Connected to you, Jake."

Everyone took a moment to let that sink in.

"What exactly are you saying, Nessie?" Morgan asked solemnly.

"He's waiting for something to happen before he makes a move on us. I don't know what exactly. But something is going to happen where he thinks he has the advantage." I saw Jacob's eyes slide toward Aunt Alice as if he knew something, but I let it go for now and continued. "And if we try to leave before that happens, he would gladly cut us down. Even better if it's Caden." I said that staring straight at him. "He doesn't just want Jacob, Caden. He wants you, too. He knows we depend on you for information about him and how he thinks. Not to mention, he probably knows that you have allies elsewhere. With this type of ordeal, getting allies to come into a dangerous situation where lives could be lost means travelling to show them how desperate you are instead of just picking up the phone. And of course we're too small a town to have an airport."

"So, you're saying that we can't go at all," Caden suggested.

I shook my head. "We'd need a distraction to get you out of town. And I guarantee you that they're watching us. Listening to us. Their hearing is amazing, right?"

Beside me, Shelby nodded. "Oh, yeah. I could hear Seth's heart from miles away if I tried really hard."

"Exactly. They're probably out of reach of us physically, but hearing us." I thought about that, and then amended it. "Well, not right now. This house is soundproof to the max."

"It's true," Shelby said. "I tried."

Caden crossed his arms over his chest. "Alright. That would mean that we need to make our plans here."

"Actually," came Dad's voice from the foyer. We all turned toward him. He grinned. "The cabins and our cottage are all soundproof."

"Well, that would explain a lot," Shelby muttered. When everyone turned to look at her, she shrugged. "What? It's true."

Looking back at Dad, he had that expression that said he could hear her thoughts loud and clear, wished he didn't, and couldn't quite ignore them.

I nudged her. "Shelbs, give Dad a break."

She gave me wide eyes. "Why? They just came from the cottage. We all know that place isn't for sleeping because vampires don't sleep."

"Oh my god. Shelby, stop," Jacob said. "I don't need the image of my future in-laws getting it on ingrained in my brain. Thank you."

"Hey," she snapped back. "You're the one getting descriptive over there. And hey, you can't talk. Give your future father-in-law a break. The man can read your thoughts, you know. When you're all up on your 'woman', he can see what you're thinking. I'm sure he doesn't want the image of his daughter-,"

"Ok, stop," I said, laughing. "Don't finish that, Shelbs."

Dad sighed. "If I could get headaches, I'd need a whole bottle of Excedrin after all that."

A moment later, the front door opened and closed, and then Mom was standing next to dad. Her damp hair was in a ponytail, and she was wearing a long-sleeved tee and blue jeans.

"So, what is everybody up to?" she asked.

"Well," Walker answered. "Nessie came up with a plausible explanation as to why Tristan didn't ambush you guys and kill you all off to begin with. He's playing with us, making us think that we have some sort of control when he actually has his people surrounding us. And Luke actually _was_ a message to let us know that he's watching to see if we try to leave Forks. The message is: if we do, we're dead. Oh, and I'm assuming she also has a plan as to how we're going to smuggle two vampires and two werewolves out of Forks."

Christa, who was sitting in front of me, smiled a sly grin as she reached over to hit the button that un-paused the game.

When Walker heard the sound of the game turn on, he whipped around. "Hey! No fair!"

She pressed buttons like a madwoman, dealing out death to Walker's character.

"I'm a woman. Women don't fight fair."

As Walker's guy went down on the screen and the living room cheered, he yelled over the din, "I want a rematch!"

Uncle Emmett stepped forward and cleared his throat. "The rules of this house state clearly that it doesn't matter how you win, just that you win. So, that being said, you lose and Christa beat the ever loving crap out of you. Better luck next time, man."

The room erupted into laughter as Christa held out her hand for Walker to shake. Grudgingly, he took it while I watched Embry perk up like he'd heard something. Immediately he stood up and went for the door two seconds before the doorbell rang. I'm pretty sure we all knew who that was.

Sure enough, Embry walked back into the room with Tricia at his side. Though she stuck close to him, she smiled at the room.

"Hi, Tricia," I said so that it wasn't so awkward.

"Hi. I hope I'm not interrupting. I just wanted to see my brother, make sure he's ok."

Glancing at Walker, caught him close his eyes as if he were tired of hearing the word "brother" from her in correspondence with him. He took a deep breath, opened his eyes, and smiled.

"I'm great, Tricia. Feeling a lot better."

For a moment, she looked confused. "Did…did you not hear about Luke?"

His expression turned serious and guarded. Caden shot him a look that wouldn't get to Tricia because he had his back to her.

"Yeah, I heard."

She wrapped her arms around herself. "Aren't you upset?"

Scooting himself away from Christa, he patted the space where he'd just been sitting. In a panic, Christa looked up to me as Tricia made her way through the quiet wolves to sit next to Walker. I gripped Christa's shoulder reassuringly. Her lip had started to curl in a snarl at the back of Tricia's head. Jacob put a hand on her other shoulder. She took a deep breath, held it in for a moment, and then let it out slowly through her mouth.

Walker and Tricia just went on ahead, not even noticing.

"Yeah, I guess I am. It's just…Luke and I haven't been friends for months, Tricia."

"What? Why? And why didn't I know this?"

He took her hand in his. "After he cornered you the way he did, I wanted nothing to do with him. The way he treated girls, and the way he went after you? I was done, Tricia. I told him if he ever went near you again, I'd beat him within an inch of his life."

A low growl reverberated around the room. The fact that Walker looked up and around at the sound let me know that it wasn't him. So, I looked to Embry, who looked murderous.

"What's your problem?" Walker said in a less than civil tone.

Jacob gave Embry a look that told him to get his act together and not say what he was really thinking.

Embry cleared his throat and took a deep breath. "I just don't like violence toward females."

Walker rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"Really, it was nothing," Tricia said, more to Embry than Walker.

"Nothing?" Walker said incredulously. "He told you to go out with him, you said no, and he cornered you. Tricia, I found him with his hand halfway up your skirt."

"Walker, stop it," she hissed.

Another growl ripped through the room. If Embry didn't stop, she'd take a guess that something was wrong with everybody in this room. Tricia looked up in shock.

Quickly, Embry killed it and cleared his throat. "Sorry. I'm not feeling well."

Nope, clearly he was feeling homicidal…toward a dead guy.

"Embry," Jacob said, demanding the other man's attention. When Embry met eyes with his alpha, Jake continued, "Go take a walk." It wasn't really a request and Embry knew it.

Nodding, he turned to leave.

"Wait," Tricia said. When Embry turned back to her, she smiled. "He didn't hurt me. He just…pushed a little too far."

Embry nodded and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Yeah, but that doesn't excuse what he did." And then he walked out, shutting the front door firmly behind him.

Tricia turned to her brother with a glare. "Do you have to be so rude? Really. And Luke didn't hurt me, ok? He just got the wrong idea, and you put him in his place." She put a hand to his face. "Even if you weren't friends anymore, I'm sorry about what happened."

"Thanks. And I'm sorry for being a jerk."

"You're a big brother. It's required for you to be a jerk. But it's not me you need to apologize to. Embry didn't deserve that." When Walker set his jaw, she sighed. "Well, I gotta head home. I walked Brailey home and mom is expecting me back soon. This was a detour."

"You're walking alone?" Caden asked from his spot on the coffee table.

Tricia turned to him. "I don't have a car, so yeah."

"I'll walk you home," Walker said, getting to his feet.

"Oh, no you don't," Jacob said. "Sit down. Morgan, Lucas, would you be so kind as to walk Tricia back to her house?"

The two of them stood up from where they were taking up space on the wall.

Tricia looked between them and Jacob. "Why does it feel like I'm being guarded?"

I stood up and patted her shoulder. "We just want to make sure that you make it home ok. My grampa, Chief Swan, is putting a curfew into effect starting tonight."

"Because of what happened to Luke?"

I nodded. "Yeah." I didn't want to tell her outright what she was dealing with, but I wanted to give her a nudge in the right direction. "You're safe with us, ok?"

She studied me, Jacob, jumped to Caden, and then to my parents. Both Caden and my parents had eyes the color of which didn't exist in normal people. Topaz and amber weren't human, and I could see the gears in her head working. And then she glanced toward the front door, as if her thoughts were chasing after Embry.

After a couple moments, she took a deep breath and shook herself. "Sure. Of course, company would be great."

Morgan and Lucas escorted her out after she said her goodbyes. I flopped down on the couch next to Jacob, pressed my head into his arm and took a deep breath with the rest of the room. Christa leaned back against my legs and rested her cheek on my knee.

Walker sat back down where he'd been. "So, what's up with Embry, huh? Why is he so concerned with Tricia?"

Everybody seemed to freeze and share a look with someone else in the room.

Christa got up off the floor, smoothing her hands over her hair. "I think I'm going to go for a walk or a run."

We all watched her walk for the door when Walker got up, too. "You know what? I think I need some air, too." He then looked to Jake with a sarcastic expression. "That is, if I'm allowed to."

Jacob gave him a look but nodded. "Sure. While you're at it, keep a look out. Make sure you have your phone, Christa."

"We'll go down into the rez instead of toward Forks."

"Go for it. Be back before dark, though. The only way I want the pack out after dark is if they're in larger groups of three or more."

"Understood. We'll be back before dinner."

And then they were gone. Jacob wrapped his arm back around my shoulders and sank down into the cushions.

"Does it ever end?" he asked of everyone and no one.

Not surprisingly, nobody gave the obvious answer.

**ChristaPOV**

"You ok?" I asked Walker as we took a well-worn path into the woods. We passed Craig as he worked the patrol line around the rez.

I couldn't help but glance over at him as we walked. His eyes were on the ground, and his hands were stuffed into his pockets. This close to him, I realized that he was a good three or four inches taller than me. Broad, heavy shoulders and arms filled out his t-shirt, but his frame wasn't overflowing with muscle. It was long and lean, like a swimmer's. His deep auburn hair shone with red highlights as we walked through patches of late afternoon sunlight.

The weather had turned chilly again which wasn't surprising considering there were no clouds to keep the heat down here with us.

"Yeah, I'm ok. I just get a little…focused when it comes to my sister."

The fact that he called her his sister was a good sign.

"That's understandable. I mean, she's your younger sister and your friend tried to take advantage of that."

He shook his head. "It's not just that. What is up with that Embry guy? He acts like he cares about her."

I shrugged, knowing I had to tread this carefully. "Maybe, in his own way, he does. Embry is a good guy, a really good guy. And he genuinely cares for people. I mean, you should have seen him and Jake when they found out about me."

Instantly, I regretted that last part. I wasn't ready to share my past with anybody voluntarily. When Jacob and the pack found out, I had no control over it. They'd seen everything.

Walker's head snapped over to me. "What do you mean? What happened to you?" When I didn't answer, he said, "Oh, man, I'm sorry. Forget I asked. It's none of my business."

This was it. This was my decision to let go of my past. If I told him, it would mean that I wasn't letting it have control over me. I was in control of myself now that my parents were gone. Things were looking up. Morgan was back in my life, and just the little bit of time I'd gotten with her had me being more open with people. I was joking around and participating. If I told him this, I could finally start to get rid of the chains of the past.

I put a hand on his arm to get him to stop so that I could face him. He looked at me expectantly.

"No, it's ok. It's just…hard for me to talk about. When your parents are assholes who lock their kid up away from society, it makes opening up to others difficult."

"Your parents did that to you?"

Inhaling deeply through my nose, I let it out slowly in a white puff. "My first few years of life were ok. I was allowed to go to the school on the rez. That's where I met Morgan. She was so outgoing where I was shy. But she didn't care about that. She dragged me everywhere with her. But then, my parents started to notice how close I was to her, that being around her allowed me to experiment with my own independence. They didn't like that. So they pulled me out of school, thinking that me being out of their sight was too much freedom. They allowed me to still see Morgan. They let her come over and hang out. But as we got older and more secretive about our conversations, they grew more suspicious."

Taking a breath, I started walking again. Walker followed quietly, not pressing for any details. He was allowing me to set the pace for how I did this, which was quite nice.

I took another deep breath before blurting out, "The first time my dad hit me was in front of Morgan." I smiled as a low growl slipped from between his teeth. "He had told me that that was the last time that I'd ever see her. She was no longer allowed at the house and I was to be homeschooled until they were ready to ship me off to college. I'd stood up to him and told him no. He backhanded me across the living room where I fell into the glass coffee table. My mother told me that it was my fault as she stitched the wounds with a sewing needle and thread. After that, I was only allowed in the backyard for fifteen minutes every day. That's it. When I wasn't studying or schooling, I was staring out my barred window. Morgan walked by my house every day with her new friends and boyfriends. She'd always look at the window, and I hated her, or I thought I did. Nobody saw me after that last day with her, not even a doctor."

"What happened next?" he asked quietly.

"One night, my dad was being particularly cruel, calling me worthless and a waste of his gene pool. I ran to my room and shoved my bed against the door. He followed, banged on the door, called me more names. The entire time I just stood there shaking in anger. When the door splintered under his weight, I phased because I was terrified he was going to kill me. He stopped dead on his way through the door and over the mattress. And that's when I started hearing the other voices. Jacob's. Embry's. They were telling me to hang on, that they were on their way. Moments of staring at my dad passed before the front door burst open. The next thing I remembered was my dad being hauled back by the scruff of his neck. Jacob's face was beyond furious. I have never seen him that angry since then. Embry was the one that came to comfort me, telling me that I was safe now, that Jacob would never let anything else hurt me, ever. That night, Jacob banished my dad from the tribe for his crimes against his daughter. My mother, again, blamed me and followed him out. Jacob didn't even allow them to pack anything, he was so furious." I took another cleansing breath. "And that was the last time I saw them. I had the house burned down, and the one I live in now was built over the ashes."

"Like a phoenix."

I nodded. "Yeah, that was the idea."

It was his turn for a deep breath and harsh blow out. "Jesus, I'm so sorry. That's…that is…you're amazing."

That made me laugh and blush, though I prayed he didn't notice that. "And why is that?"

"Because you survived. Years of being locked up, shut off from society, and here you are. Funny, intelligent, and a badass werewolf."

"I wouldn't say badass. I do what I'm told, run my lines, and go home. That's it."

"Yeah, but you care about these people."

I looked over at him. "Of course I do. These people are my family. They accepted me, took me in even though I was weak and useless to them. Jacob gave me a home. And Nessie? She was younger when all this went down, but man, she could make anyone feel at ease. She could always tell when I was upset from thinking too much about what had happened, and she'd show me her thoughts of things that made her happy."

He laughed. "Yeah, she's pretty great."

"I take it you know her story?"

"Yeah, they told me that after they told me I was going to turn into a giant dog, which I still have yet to do."

We both laughed and then fell silent. A cold, crisp breeze flew right into us, making me stop to put my head back and enjoy the freshness of it. Now that I'd told him my story, I felt even more free and at ease with him. He didn't think I was weak, and there really wasn't any pity in his eyes. Sure he was sorry for what had been done, but it wasn't awkward between us like I thought it would be. Like maybe he'd think I was damaged or completely broken, useless, not worth his time.

"So," he said after a while, his foot kicking up a rock stuck in the ground. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Embry. What's really up with him?"

This time when he asked it, he was calm and clearer-headed. He also sounded like he really cared about the answer. But I was trapped. Could I really tell him about imprinting? Actually, the better question was, _should_ I tell him?

In the end, I sighed. "It's…something personal for us, something that we do."

"'We'?"

"Yeah, my kind of wolf, the Quileutes. It's called imprinting and we don't have a choice. When it happens, it happens and there is nothing we can do about it."

He stopped me with a hand on my shoulder. "And this has something to do with Tricia? He's done something to her?"

I could tell he was starting to jump to conclusions, so I quickly jumped in. "No, no, no. Nothing like that. He'd never do anything to hurt her. He's nothing like Luke. If anything, he just wants to protect her. He'd kill to protect her."

He shook his head. "I don't understand. What is it exactly?"

"Ok, I know you're probably thinking love at first sight or something like that. Well, it's not exactly love, but it is an immediate connection between the wolf and the imprint. I've heard imprinting described in so many different ways." There were several ways I could put it, and none of them he would like. I didn't know him very well, but I knew that.

"Just say it. Please, Christa."

"Ok, ok. Um, it's kind of like speed dating for soul mates."

"Excuse me?"

I sighed. "Let me use Jacob and Nessie, for example. Nessie is Jake's imprint. The moment he first looked at her, in her eyes, he knew that she was what was keeping him to the planet, not gravity. He knew then and there that he would do _anything_ for her. He'd kill for her, die for her, you name it. And let me make this clear to you. He imprinted on her when she just like, five minutes old." When he made a creeped out face, I hurried on. "And it wasn't what you're thinking. As Nessie grew, he was whatever she needed. So as a baby, he was more like an uncle or brother, protector. As she got older, he still remained protector, but moved on to friend, then best friend, then boyfriend, then lover. As she grew. He was anything she needed him to be. There are so many theories about why we imprint, but we really don't know for sure. However, what we do know is that the wolf that imprints will never want anyone else. And the imprint themselves? I've never seen an imprint turn their wolf away."

For a few moments all he did was stare out into the woods as if he were just taking it all in. Then he closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"So, wait a minute. You're saying that Embry imprinted on Tricia and she doesn't have a choice but to be with him?"

"No! No, she has a choice. Like I said, Embry would never, ever hurt her. If she said no, he'd be a thousand miles away from her in two seconds. What I'm saying is that since that wolf can be whatever the imprint needs, that imprint doesn't look anywhere else."

"Uh-huh."

I laughed a little. "Hey, your sister is in good hands. She'll be very well taken care of."

"I don't want him near her."

That made me blink. "Exc-excuse me? Why not? I figured you'd want your sister to be treated right. An imprinted wolf is the best protector there is. Or do you think the two of you are too good for us?"

"I just don't want him near my sister."

I gave him a look and decided to channel Morgan for a moment by saying what was on my mind. "Are you sure you really think of her that way? As your _sister_?"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" he demanded.

I threw my hands in the air. "Oh, come on. We all see how you look at her, how much you hate Embry showing her any attention. You feel for her. The rumor was true, wasn't it?"

He glared at me. "What does it matter? She's adopted. We're not related by blood."

I glared right back. "Well, she sure thinks of you as her '_big brother_'."

"She's confused. She doesn't know how she sees me. I know her better than anyone on this planet. You think a werewolf from the _Indian_ reservation is just going to come in and win her over?"

"_Excuse me?"_

He stepped into my personal space. "Girls like it when guys know them. I'm ahead of the game, sweetheart. If things had been different and we'd met in high school, she'd already be my girlfriend. It's just a matter of time. Embry needs to take the hint and step off."

I couldn't help myself. I punched him.

"You arrogant, ignorant asshole!" I yelled as he opened and shut his mouth, testing his jaw. "That poor girl thinks of you as her brother, and you're going to tear her apart like that? She likes Embry! You're just too blind to see it."

"Oh, come on. They just fucking met! Any girl likes attention from a guy."

"It's the imprint, you moron. It's an instant attraction!"

With that, I kicked myself in the ass all the way home for even opening my mouth. I should not have said a damn word. Taking my phone out of my pocket, I texted Jake, telling him that I was heading to my house, Walker was in the woods, and that he needed to stay away from Embry and Tricia so that they could get their spark going. I also said that I was done for the night and I needed the night off from patrol.

But Jake knew me too well to let that end at good night. He texted back with, _what happened? Are you ok? Walker just got back to the house. He looks pissed._

Sighing, I decided to not tell him that I'd shot my mouth off. Instead, I just told him that we fought about something personal. It wasn't a complete lie, especially if Walker talked to Jake about it. Imprinting was ridiculously personal and I'd dragged it out into the dirt like it was a big, fat secret and I was a gossip type.

After I shut and locked my front door, I threw my phone on the counter, slung my jacket on the back of the couch and went for my bedroom. In there, I fell onto my bed, grabbed a pillow, and screamed into it until my voice went out.

* * *

**:( I love Christa to death, but man, she's not good with people. I think she shouldn't channel her inner Morgan anymore. But I doubt she'd listen to me anyway. As usual, reviews would be fantastic. I love hearing what you have to say. Y'all keep me going. Seriously. You're awesome! MWAH! xoxoxoxo**


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter 27 has arrived. Sooooo, I added another POV. I know, I know. But I figured with me back to my normal updating, it wouldn't be as bad. Now, I don't think I'll be adding any more POVs for this story. I may for the next one which might mean that some of our characters from this one or the first story may not be as prominent or have any of their POV in the next installment, like Morgan. I may start with Caden in the next one. But we'll see. I'll leave that up to you guys, so if you have a comment about it, shoot me a PM or review. Ok, enough ranting.**

***Disclaimer***

**Please Enjoy!**

* * *

**TriciaPOV**

Embry was the sweetest thing. After I'd left the Cullen house, I'd found him wandering in the woods on the side of the road and asked if he wanted to walk me back home. He'd given me the button down shirt he was wearing over his tank when I shivered because I'd forgotten my jacket. He'd refused to hear it when I told him I was fine. Morgan and Lucas stayed back from us, but still followed. I wasn't really all that sure why I had to have "guards", but with Walker's sudden "sickness" and Luke's death, I wasn't going to question it.

"I'm really sorry about Walker," I said for the thousandth time.

Embry shrugged, moving closer to me so that our arms brushed as we walked. "Eh, it's alright. I can handle him. But is he normally like that with other guys?"

My turn to shrug. "Sometimes. When Luke…did what he did, I thought Walker was going to beat him to death. He's just very protective, especially after mom and dad told us I was adopted. He was protective before but after that, he felt like I'd been abandoned by my birth parents."

He took a deep breath and nodded. "Well, at least he cares. Can I ask you something?"

Pulling the long sleeves of his shirt down over my cold fingers, I nodded. "Mhm."

Surprising me, he took my hand to stop me, turned so that we were facing each other, and looked up at the sky. His hand was super warm, instantly thawing my fingers. His thumb rubbed over the top of my hand.

"Do you believe in things that can't be explained?"

"What do you mean? Like what?"

A thoughtful frown drew his brows down. "I don't know, like, myths and legends."

I laughed. "You mean Dracula? The Wolfman? Bigfoot?"

Bringing his serious eyes to mine, he nodded.

Thinking about it in a serious way, I absently rubbed my thumb over his palm. "It's possible, I guess. I don't know. But that's what Walker doesn't understand. I want to learn so much. And I want to do it out in the world, not in some classroom. I want to experience something…epic, something that the rest of the world doesn't know." I looked up into his eyes. "You know what I mean?"

He smiled. "You have no idea." Reaching up, he played with a strand of my hair that the wind was blowing around. "It'll happen for you."

"You think?"

"Absolutely. You're determined no matter what anybody says."

I sighed. "Mom and dad are gonna be crushed when I tell them I'm not gonna be a brain surgeon."

He laughed. And when he did, something clicked inside of me. There was no way to really explain it. I just felt like, finally, my story was beginning, and I didn't even know him. Except that he was nice, sweet, and actually listened to me. And the fact that he was a looker wasn't a bad plus either. Super tall, broad shoulders, but lean. Some serious muscle definition. Raven-black shaggy hair that fell into eyes that were nearly black. I felt like I was looking at someone that was now a permanent fixture in my life. I was looking at a part of my future.

While he laughed, I smiled and watched him.

"What? Don't like the sight of people's brains?"

I grimaced. "Actually, I don't like the sight of blood. It's supposed to stay on the inside of the body." When he smiled at me, I said, "So, can I ask _you_ something?"

"Sure."

"How old are you?"

For a moment, he just stared at me, then cleared his throat. "Uh, how old do I look?"

I shrugged. "Twenty-ish?"

He laughed. "Actually twenty-six."

My eyes bugged out of my head. And then I managed to get a hold of myself. "Oh, well, that's older than I expected."

"Should I be insulted or…?"

"Oh, no. No. Just wasn't what I expected."

He took a step closer to me. "Why? Does it bother you?" His voice was low and close.

Swallowing hard, I shook my head. Man, he smelled amazing. "No, not at all."

It was one of those moments that the movies were all about. That moment where you think that something was about to happen and you're on the couch cheering. That tense moment where both of us were thinking about how close we were to each other.

And then, to my left, a throat cleared roughly.

The tension was broken as we blinked rapidly and stepped away from each other.

"Embry," Morgan said. "The sun's going down. Jake wants us back."

Embry cleared his throat and rubbed his neck. "Uh, yeah, yeah. Why don't we get you home? Your parents are probably worried."

"Uh, yeah. I'm surprised they haven't called. And we're actually just around the corner."

And so we started walking again in silence. Strangely enough it wasn't awkward silence. We still stayed close to each other, our hands brushing occasionally. But eventually, we got to my house and the moments with him ended. Shrugging out of his shirt, I handed it back longingly, never wanting to part with it.

"Thank you. I appreciate it. It was very warm."

"You're welcome." He took it from me with a smile. "So, maybe we'll see each other again sometime."

"I hope so," I blurted out before I could catch it.

He looked surprised. "Really?"

"Absolutely."

"Look, I know you're only seventeen-,"

"No," I said firmly. His eyebrows rose toward his hairline. "Don't bring age into this. I'm not going to. It's just you, and it's just me." I held out my hand like I wanted to shake his. "Friends."

Staring at me like he was measuring me, he finally smiled and took my hand. "Friends."

"For now," I blurted again. Quickly, I stood up on my tiptoes to kiss his cheek while he was still stunned into silence.

And then I ran for the house as quick as I could so that he wouldn't catch up to me and catch my blush.

**JPOV**

We were all still chillin' at the Cullen house, playing games and talking. Everyone rotated out when it was time for patrol shifts to change over so I got to hang out with the entire pack. Something I hadn't done in a long time. Somebody even wheeled Billy up here. He parked it next to the couch beside me so that we could talk. It had been a few weeks since I'd been able to visit him so it was nice to see him. Eventually, Rachel made it up here with a sour look. When I gave her a questioning look, he glared over at her two guards, Sadie and Blake. I rolled my eyes while Billy chuckled.

Walker was brooding over against the wall away from everyone. His arms were crossed over his chest as he studied the toes of his boots. He wouldn't tell me what happened, just that a tiff happened between him and Christa, and that sometimes I didn't have to know everything. Which he was right about, so I let it go. But I'd told him they'd better be civil toward each other. Nessie had elbowed me in the ribs, glared at me, and then told Walker that if he needed to talk about anything that he could go to her when I wasn't around. He'd nodded and gone to take up space on the wall. That had happened about twenty minutes ago.

But with me being me, I decided to try and sense his emotions. I was just in the process of bringing my wolf to the forefront when the front door opened. Walker's head moved out of reflex toward the sound, but once he saw who it was the angry look was back on his face as he quickly looked away and locked his jaw.

As Christa came into the living room, her eyes slid to him and quickly away. With her nose in the air and deliberately not looking at him, she made her way through the crowd of wolves on the floor to stand in front of us. Once she was in front of me and Nessie, she lowered her eyes and fidgeted with her fingers.

She cleared her throat. "I, um, I decided I didn't want to be alone. Would it be ok if-?"

Nessie smiled and scooted closer to me, patting the cushion on her other side. "Absolutely. You're always welcome to join us."

Instead of taking the offered seat, she sank down onto the floor between my and Nessie's legs. She curled herself around Nessie's leg and rested her head on her alpha female's knee. Nessie's face softened as she stroked Christa's blonde curls. Looking over at Walker for his reaction, I found that he no longer looked angry, but maybe a little bit sorry. I glanced over at Edward hoping he could give me a little insight with just a look. He had that expression on his face like he wanted to sigh and pinch the bridge of his nose. It was a type of sad sigh, though, like he wanted to do something to help but knew that his involvement in fact wouldn't help at all.

Well, then, that told me everything I needed to know. They needed to work this out on their own, probably between the four of them. And Christa's text wasn't far off the mark. Embry and Tricia needed to spend time together so that Tricia could have the experience of being around another guy without her brother losing his mind. And maybe, if she fell for Embry, she could make Walker see the light.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Edward nod enthusiastically, as if I were on the right track. Alright. I'd tell Embry to try to spend as much non-creepy time with her as possible when Walker wasn't around. Eventually, Walker would have to go home. He was training with Caden as much as possible and was able to control his anger. The only problem was he hadn't shifted yet. Because of that, Caden didn't want to let him go. According to Caden, that was the ultimate show of control.

When the door opened again, I saw Walker stiffen. Morgan and Lucas came in wearing identical looks of wariness. I found out the reason as Embry came in behind them with an easy smile and distant look to his eyes. Uh-oh. The only explanation was that he'd walked Tricia back home with the other two. Luckily, Embry saw Walker and instantly shut his expression down.

But when Walker got a suspicious look in his eyes, I gave wide eyes to Caden. Immediately, he jumped up off the coffee table and went for the moody werewolf.

"Alright. I think a little training is in order."

Walker glared up at him. "We already trained today."

Caden kicked him in the thigh none too gently. "True, but we haven't tried getting you to shift. Now get your ass off the floor and go outside."

Grumbling, Walker did as he was told. "I don't see why we have to do this now."

"Do you want to go home sooner rather than later?"

"Yeah."

"Then get outside."

Once the kitchen door closed, Caden shook his head.

"What are you gonna do?" I asked.

"Rile him up a bit. Like you, a trigger for us is anger. Maybe, if I can piss him off enough, he'll shift. Usually, with newly infected wolves, it takes the full moon, but with how dominant and in control he already seems, maybe I can force it."

"You got any theories as to why he didn't shift at the full moon?"

He shrugged. "It's happened before, but it's rare. If he's in enough control of himself, it can lead to not shifting. Like Shelby, who's pregnant."

"Wait, wait, wait," Billy said beside me. He leaned forward to look at Shelby. "You're pregnant?"

She smiled and shrugged. "Yeah."

Billy sat back and glared at me. "Why wasn't I told?"

I shrugged. "Sorry. I've been a little busy, dad. And why don't you get mad at Nessie? She knows."

"Hey!" she exclaimed.

"I would never get mad at Nessie. That's my future daughter-in-law."

"Ok, Rachel, then. Or Paul. Or Seth."

"Or Charlie," Seth chimed in with a glare at me.

"Charlie knows?" Billy exploded.

I laughed. "Yeah, dad. He is married to Seth's mom. And Seth is the father of the baby."

Billy grumbled. "I'm gonna kill him, cop or no cop."

The room laughed.

"Easy, there, Chief," Carlisle said with a laugh from his corner. Ever since we'd found out that Shelby was pregnant, he'd been doing his research with Caden about the Children of the Moon so that he could be ready for the birthing table. Caden had made a comment that the gestation period may be more like a wolf than a human, meaning that the baby could grow faster than a human baby. I'd done my own research. If the gestation period had been that of a wolf, she'd be ready to give birth any day now. However, that didn't mean that Shelby would be carrying the baby to nine months. Right now, Carlisle felt as though it was progressing as a human baby would, but that could change if the wolf gene in the baby got triggered somehow.

We were all waiting for her to wake up one day soon not being able to see her toes. That would be an interesting day.

"Jacob," Caden said. "Why don't you join me outside? Walker seems to have issues at the moment with you controlling him. If you're out there, it may help agitate him even more."

"Oh, that's a real compliment." I sighed as I untangled myself from Nessie. She leaned over for a kiss before I got up.

As I passed, Billy gave me a slap on the back as far up as he could reach. "Good luck."

Stepping over everyone, I followed Caden out the back door. Walker was standing out in the middle of the yard, his eyes closed as if he were listening to the woods, working on honing his abilities. I didn't even have the door closed when Caden went up to him and punched him hard in the face, and then immediately went down into a defensive crouch.

Quickly, I closed the door as the crack of Caden's knuckles against Walker's face echoed around the clearing.

Walker's hands flew to his face and he glared at Caden. "What the fuck was that for?!"

"Oh, come on," Caden spat. "You walk around here like you're entitled to sympathy just because you got attacked." He held his arms out wide. "Welcome to the club. You're not the only one. Shelby got attacked, and then, she got pregnant and you don't see her whining about it!"

Lunging forward, he took a lightning fast one-two jab at Walker's ribs, making the other wolf forget his face and double over. I knew Caden was just trying to get Walker angry, but what he was saying was also kinda true.

Walker coughed. "Well, excuse me for wanting a normal life and not this shit hole that I've been thrown into."

"Normal?" Caden said incredulously with a laugh. "You think _normal_ is being infatuated with your own sister? Come on, now, mate. Think that one through."

Caden moved again, but this time Walker was ready. As Caden's fist went flying at his face, Walker brought his left forearm up to block it, and then swung with his right fist, landing a blow to Caden's temple. Caden stumbled back but got his footing straight with an evil little grin.

"Now, we're talkin', mate," he said as he stalked forward again.

Walker turned a glare on me. "You just gonna stand there and let him do this to me?"

I crossed my arms over my chest. The wolf inside me was acutely aware that Walker was dangerously close to shifting. Caden's plan was working, but I had to play my part.

I shrugged. "He's got a point. And you have been a pain in the ass about Tricia lately. Not to mention how you treat Embry, my pack brother."

Glaring at me, he growled and went down into a defensive position. Now it was on. Caden wasn't going down, I knew that. He was just playing before. But now? He was all business. With a low roar, he charged Walker, who blocked the flurry of fists, but failed to see the foot swipe coming. He went down hard, the air being knocked out of him. His eyes widened as Caden came at him, looking to stomp on that pumping chest. Rolling away, Caden stomped on the ground, jarring him long enough for Walker to get to his feet. Walker was smart and used Caden's recoup time to go after him in a spectacular tackle.

Walker moved so that he was sitting on Caden's chest. Walker was rip-shit pissed. When Caden's arms came up to throw punches, Walker easily used his new strength to hold those hands away from him. With a painfully loud head-butt, Caden was stunned back when his head snapped back into the ground.

And that's when I saw it. Walker's hands were turning, popping. The muscles and skin were ripping and growing back together.

With a war cry, Walker punched Caden in the face. At first, I thought he'd stop at just one, but no. He went on and on. The anger rippled off of him in heat waves. The way that a car does when it's on.

And as he beat Caden, the other man just laid there and took it. When there was a pause for Walker to catch his breath, Caden moved his head to the side and spat out blood.

"Shift," he demanded in a gurgling voice. "Walker, shift! Use that anger. Don't stuff it back down. You're angry, so be fucking angry. You hate this. You've hated things for a long time."

Clapping his hands over his ears, Walker staggered away from Caden.

"No! Stop it."

Caden rolled onto his side, spitting up more blood. "Let it go, Walker. You can't control the hate forever. Luke's dead. Your sister is _your sister_! And now you can never be a normal teenager again. It's over!"

Caden had gotten to his feet and was advancing on Walker with every word he said. Walker just stayed crouched with his hands over his ears.

"Stop it!" he screamed.

"Caden-," I started.

"Shift, Walker. Give that anger an outlet. I guarantee you'll feel better."

Looking up with what I could only describe as despair in his eyes, Walker whispered, "Go with me. Shift with me. I can't hold it in anymore, and I don't want to do this alone."

"Absolutely."

And that was all that was needed. A moment later, Walker went to all fours and screamed. He screamed loud enough that the woods echoed with it. I'd be surprised if nobody called the cops. I had a thought to call Charlie, but didn't get around to it. Walker's whole body started to spasm with the change, his skin visibly crawling over his muscle. The muscle writhed over the bone distorting the fact that his body was one piece.

Walking up to Walker's writhing form, Caden gripped the back of Walker's t-shirt and ripped it down his back.

"It'll be easier if he doesn't feel constricted," Caden said in a low voice. In one smooth motion, he slipped off his own shirt and went down to the ground, already writhing before his knees hit the dirt.

With me not paying attention, the door behind me opened.

"What is going on-oh, my god," Nessie said breathlessly.

Quickly, I pulled her outside and closed the door. No doubt Shelby would want to follow, and she didn't need to see this. Not while she was pregnant. Caden had been right. The shift was incredibly personal and private. A pain best kept to yourself. Hopefully Edward was seeing this in my mind and would keep her inside.

Nessie wrapped herself around me as we watched. It was like a car accident. You felt bad for the people who were hurt but you couldn't help but gawk at the wreckage.

Caden's shift caught up with Walker's so that we watched as their skin actually ripped apart, showing glistening muscle and the white of bone. The sounds were the same ones from Caden's partial shift but magnified by a thousand. The poppings sounded like grotesque bubble wrap. The cracking and reknitting of bones sounded like a bonfire as wood was added to it.

I heard Nessie swallow hard as the skin moved and grew over the lengthening body parts of both men. They grew taller and broader, fur flowing here and there.

And finally, it was done. What had only taken a couple minutes had felt like ten years. Both wolves lay in the dirt breathing hard, but only Walker whimpered. Caden was used to this. He just needed a moment to orient himself. Once his moment was over, he stood up on all fours and stretched, joints popping as if they hadn't been used in a while. Caden's wolf was white with a black eye patch. Walker was pitch black with a grey saddle.

Caden walked over to Walker slowly with his head down, whining a little. Walker just lay in the dirt, still breathing hard, and eyes closed. When Caden nudged his shoulder with his muzzle, Walker opened his eyes. Nessie gasped. Pale, pale icy green eyes met Caden's amber eyes. Caden nudged him again. This time Walker attempted to stand up. He was wobbly on four legs that probably still ached, but he got his balance rather quickly. He watched as Caden stretched again and then copied the white wolf. He arched his back like cats do, and then stretched out his front legs before moving forward to stretch out the back.

Suddenly, I was very appreciative of the easy phase that my wolves and I had. We'd have been dead by now for sure if we'd had it like the Children of the Moon. Behind us, the door opened again. Nessie and I turned to find Shelby and Leah silhouetted by the light. Edward was close behind.

"Caden?" Leah asked. When the large, white wolf walked up to her, he kept low as if not sure of his welcome. Apparently, he'd never shifted for Leah. With a nervous laugh, she ran a hand up between his eyes, which made him purr. "You're beautiful."

He huffed and gave her a look as if he didn't appreciate such a girly word being associated with him.

"Stuff it, wolf boy," I said with a laugh. "It was a compliment. Go with it for once."

"Walker?" Shelby said as she came around us. The black wolf wasn't as big as Caden, but then, according to Caden, alphas tend to be bigger. Walker may have been a dominant, but he wasn't an alpha.

Walker moved slowly as if his body still hurt, which gave Shelby time to study him while Seth moved up behind her. Caden shot a look to Walker as if reminding him to keep his temper to himself. Shelby moved forward to meet him. She rubbed his face and neck, massaging, as if she could sense that he was still in pain.

"It's ok, Walker. We're all here. You have two families, now. We'll take care of you if you let us."

He grumbled and snuffled into her hair, which made her smile. And then he stiffened. Looking back, I found Christa standing in the doorway, looking worried whether she wanted to or not.

"You ok? You screamed kinda loud," she asked.

He grumbled again and turned away.

Christa looked to Edward, who glared at Walker. "He said he's fine, thanks."

Walker whipped around and growled at Edward.

"That isn't what he said," Christa whispered. "What was it?"

Edward sighed. "Fine. He said it's none of your business how he's doing."

While Walker wasn't watching, Caden leapt over to wrap his teeth around the other wolf's throat and growled. Walker whimpered and went down to his belly. I saw Edward grin out of the corner of my eye. Apparently, Caden didn't like Walker's attitude toward Christa.

"It's ok, Caden," she said. "It's between me and him anyway. Let him be an asshole. He'll get put in his place eventually by the right person."

Leaping out of the door, she phased in midair, ripping her clothes. As she passed Walker, she growled and raised her hackles at him. Caden had let go of Walker, and Walker returned her sentiment as she passed. He even nipped at her tail, for which she turned around and snapped at him.

"Christa, go home," I told her. "Get some sleep. You'll be going into town tomorrow. You _and_ Walker."

They both growled at me.

My eyebrows rose. "Are you disobeying me, Christa?" Instantly, she went down to her belly. Walker was still growling. "Shut up, Walker. Go tell it to someone who cares. The two of you are going to do your jobs. Talk it out while you walk tomorrow. I don't care what you do, but it is not my job to babysit you. You're adults. Figure it out. And now that you've shifted, Walker, you _will_ be running patrols. I know you didn't ask for this mess, but you're in it. And you will help us. We need you. Christa, go home. Walker, take a run with Caden."

Caden pressed his nose to Leah's forehead, and then turned to Walker. Pushing him with his shoulder, Caden muscled the other wolf into the woods. Christa quietly went in the opposite direction, toward the rez.

"Am I the only one who sensed a little hostility?" Emmett said from the doorway.

When he all turned to give him a look, he held his hands up.

"Just a question."

Behind him, someone clapped. Emmett moved aside to reveal Billy.

He grinned at all of us. "I like this guy."

**RPOV**

Later that night, after everyone had gone home and the Cullen house became quiet once more, Jacob and I made our way back up to the cabin, escorted by Derek and Adam. Two other wolves would take their place so that they could get some sleep. I missed who they said because I was too busy watching Jacob. He was trying to be subtle, but I could see him scenting the wind.

"Everything ok?" I asked.

Looking down at me in surprise, he said, "Yeah, I was just practicing."

I laughed. "Yeah, but you're also lying. What was that look between you and my aunt tonight? Did you think that I missed it?"

"What? I can't share a look with my in-laws?"

I gave him a look.

He sighed. "She had a vision. That's what she dragged me upstairs for after lunch."

"What was it about?"

"Tristan using a bad storm as an advantage. Tonight you said that he was waiting for something. Well, apparently, he can already sense that storm and he's made the decision to use it against us. You were right, Nessie."

I moved in closer to him. "Can you sense it?"

He inhaled deeply. "I can, but it's far off. Maybe another week or so."

"How bad?"

"Alice says it's going to be a doozy. Probably a town and rez blackout."

"But why?"

"The weather. Cold one day, warm the next. Those kinds of fronts mixing causes problems, Ness."

I shivered. "Any news of Jane?"

He shook his head. "Nothing. But it kind of makes sense. Alice is trying hard to see her, but if she's pulling a Victoria and letting someone else make the decisions, that could explain why Alice can't see her."

I'd heard the stories about Victoria wanting to kill my mother when she'd been human because Dad had killed her mate for trying to kill my mom in the first place. I'd also heard of the extent Victoria had gone to in order to get to my mother, family. That had been the first battle that the wolves and Cullens had fought together.

"You think she'll show up last minute?"

"That, I wish I knew. You said that you managed to keep her out of your mind so that she couldn't use her ability on you, right?"

"Yeah."

"I want you to keep that shield up from now until this whole mess is over, ok?"

That surprised me. "I thought you didn't like it when I closed up."

He squeezed me to him. "I don't, but your safety is more important to me than me knowing what you're thinking."

Pulling the keys out of his pocket, Jacob unlocked the door and ushered me inside. We said good night to Derek and Adam. Once the door closed, Jacob locked it and put in the key code for the security system.

"Stay down here," he told me. "I'm gonna go search the house, ok?"

I nodded. "Ok."

While he quickly checked the kitchen and closets, and then went upstairs, I went to the fireplace in front of the couch to start it up. Jacob had taught me how to get it going. I heard him come back down the stairs to head for our bedroom. Two minutes later, he was back upstairs just as I was getting comfy on the couch. He kicked off his shoes and took off his tank, and then sat down next to me, pulling me tight to him. We'd been like this all night, just cuddling up, wanting to be close to each other.

He handed me the remote for the TV system over the mantelpiece. "You wanna put in a movie or watch Netflix?"

"I'm sure I could find something on Netflix." We'd actually gotten into watching Teen Wolf on MTV just because we thought it was terribly ironic. It turned out to be a good show, and surprisingly, Jacob liked it, too. Buffy and Angel were also a couple more favorites.

And just as I clicked on the first episode of season two of Teen Wolf, Jacob's phone rang. I paused it.

"Really? One night. I just want one night of no drama." He growled as he dug the phone out of his jeans. The screen had Sam's name and a picture of the Uley family over it. Taking a deep breath, Jacob pushed the answer button and said, "Yeah, Sam. What's up?...Mhm, no we're not busy. We actually just sat down to watch some TV…That's tomorrow? Man, I completely forgot." He glanced at me. "Yeah, sure. We'd be happy to keep her…Absolutely. Not a problem…Nope, no plans that I'm aware of…Sure, we'll be here." He hung up and sat back down beside me.

"What's up?" I asked scooting up next to him again.

He took one of my curls between his fingers. "Tomorrow is Sam and Emily's anniversary. Nine years."

"Oh, man. How did we forget about that?" I suddenly felt my stomach drop. I'd completely forgotten with all the drama going on.

"We've been ridiculously covered in crap for the past few weeks, Ness. They understand. But Sam wants to be romantic with Em, so he asked if we could take Leila. He's on his way up with her right now."

I beamed at him. He may have wanted it to be just us, but he couldn't say no to his goddaughter. That baby had everyone wrapped around her finger.

"Absolutely. I could use some happy, baby time. I feel like I haven't seen her in years."

"Yeah, I know. Remember the last time we had her?" He turned toward me so that he could stroke my cheek and study my face.

I nodded. "We were fighting. I accused you of not loving me beyond the imprint."

His hands pulled me against him, fingers splayed out over my skin. He leaned forward to bury his face in my neck. "I'm so happy that all of that is behind us. I feel so bad for Embry and Christa. Tricia, too."

"Me, too. Walker, as well. He's so confused." I stroked Jacob's hair and neck. "But I think Christa's right. It's going to take the right person to tell Walker how it is. And we all know that person is Tricia."

"You really think it all will work out?"

"Of course I do. It has to. I think Walker is attracted to Christa and that's why they fought. He doesn't like it. I bet she touched on the whole sister/brother thing and it pissed him off. But Tricia has to tell Walker how it is on her side, especially if he's assuming things. And Tricia has to go for Embry. He's her perfect match. The only person who thinks that Embry is competition is Walker. He just doesn't realize how wrong he is."

Jacob sighed a world-weary sigh. "I just want things to fast forward where everything has worked itself out and we can finally focus on starting a family."

"Amen, love. Amen."

And with perfect timing, a knock sounded on the door. Pulling away from me, Jacob slipped his tank back on and we both got up to answer the door. Jacob opened it to reveal both Sam and Emily, the baby carrier, and Morgan and Lucas at their backs.

I grinned. "Hey, guys. Come on in. Get out of the cold."

The baby carrier was covered with a blanket, making me guess that Leila was asleep. Emily gently set it down when she was inside. Sam set down the massive diaper bag. Morgan and Lucas decided to stay outside and run until it was time to go back down to the rez.

Picking up the carrier, I set it next to the couch in front of the fire so Leila wouldn't get cold. And then I turned to Emily. We hugged hard.

"So congratulations on your anniversary. I'm so sorry. It just slipped our minds or we would have asked if you wanted us to take her for the day."

"Oh, it's not a problem," she said, blowing into her cupped hands.

"Yeah, sorry, Jake," Sam said. "I totally should have called earlier. We just got busy making plans."

Jacob clapped him on the arm. "Seriously, man, it's ok. We never mind taking her. She's great."

"So what did you two do all day?" Emily asked as they all followed me into the kitchen. I started up our Keurig machine as they picked out what they wanted and their mugs.

I shrugged. "Just had a non-crazy day hanging out with the pack all day. Aunt Alice started on my wedding dress and measured Jake for his tux again."

"Oooo, I bet you're so excited. Where are you going for your honeymoon?"

Jake and I exchanged a look. One that made Emily and Sam laugh.

"You haven't even thought about that, have you?" Sam asked.

Jacob set down a mug of chocolate hazelnut tea in front of Emily and put the coffee K-cup in for Sam. "Not really. I think we're just more concerned about making it to the wedding in one piece. Ness, where would you like to go?"

"Oh, um…I don't know. I've never really wanted to go anywhere."

Sam and Emily shared another look.

"That's probably a good thing," Emily murmured into her drink.

Jacob turned around to lean against the counter and crossed his arms. "You know something we don't?"

"Nope. Just sayin'."

"Uh-huh. Just lyin' is more like it," he said with a grin as he set Sam's mug in front of him.

I handed him my dark chocolate hot chocolate cup and he stuck into the machine.

She shrugged again. "I'm sworn to secrecy. But really, it's kind of good that you guys are comfy being here. Heck, a honeymoon locked in this cabin with Sam? I could so handle that."

Jacob and I shared a grin. Oh, yeah. I could handle a couple weeks holed up in here with him. The only problem would be that it would be so much easier for the others to bother us with us being so close. And now that I thought about it, I really wanted some quality time with Jake after our wedding. My hopes were kind of up now that Emily has said she was sworn to secrecy. Only one person would be thoughtful enough to come up with the honeymoon, but scary enough to make anybody keep that secret: Aunt Alice.

Jacob handed me the mug of hot chocolate that he had just mixed with crème brulee coffee creamer. Mmm, delicious. He popped in his own hot chocolate. He hated coffee, but found that he'd liked the way I made my hot chocolate. We kept the coffee for me when I needed something stronger and other guests.

We all sat around, chit-chatting for a good hour before Emily started yawning. About five minutes later, they said their goodbyes to us and Leila before grabbing Morgan and Lucas to head back down. Jacob got to Leila first to take her upstairs. He changed her, tucked her into the crib, and then came back downstairs with the baby monitor. He'd closed the door so that the TV wouldn't wake her up.

Finally, we were able to cuddle up and enjoy some TV and time to ourselves. After the episode ended, we went to check on Leila in person before we shut down the house for the night. She was still out cold.

When we went down to our room, Jacob built up the fire with the extra wood he'd brought in a couple days ago. He joined me in the bed, sliding skin against skin.

It had been a long day, and Luke's death seemed like it had happened weeks ago instead of just early this morning. Watching Walker and Caden shift had been a real eye-opener. Jacob's preventing Shelby from seeing it had been a good call. We didn't need her having hysterics with her pregnant. Bed rest would kill her.

From behind me, Jacob kissed my shoulder and squeezed my waist. "Quit thinking, and go to sleep. Leila will be up early."

His hands gently rubbing over my stomach and his heartbeat thudding against my back was the best lullaby. So, concentrating on all of him here with me, I fell asleep with my last thought being that I agreed with Jacob about starting our family soon.

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**I figured calm and quiet for the end of this one. The chapters have been kind of stressful. These guys just totally know how to stress me out, especially Walker. I just wanna smack him. Anywhozzle! Please review or PM me if you want. I will answer any questions you have. **


	29. Chapter 29

***clears throat* Um, hi! Chapter 28 anyone? I'm sorry for the whole wait thing again. Between my work schedule and my birthday, time just slipped. Hopefully it won't happen again. BUT I loved this chapter. Christa and Walker. Tricia and Embry. I'm really coming to like Tricia. I hope you like it, too.**

***Disclaimer***

**Please Enjoy!**

* * *

**ChristaPOV**

A dull pounding sound woke me up, which added to my irritation. My dream had been a terribly good one. Walker and I making up and making out. Ugh. Couldn't my subconscious remember that we were pissed off with him? His disrespect of me, Embry, and Tricia, not to mention his racist statement about us "Indians"?

As the pounding on my door persisted as did the doorbell, I had the urge to punch him again while I got out of bed. Whoever it was leaned into the doorbell and I almost ripped the door off the hinges.

"What?!" I snarled.

With eyebrows raised, Walker took a step back. Speak of the devil.

I sighed. "What do you want?" I said in a less than friendly tone. For some reason, I had the insane thought that he may have come to apologize.

Instead, he checked his watch. "We have a patrol of Forks to get to."

"Shit." Leaving the door open, I went for my bathroom. "You know, next time, just call me to wake me up."

"I don't have your number. And no, that's not an invitation for you to give it to me."

The urge to punch him again pulsed through my arms. Instead of allowing my body to take over, however, I just grabbed some clothes and slammed my bathroom door. Taming my curls, scrubbing my face and teeth, and getting dressed only took about five minutes. When I came back out, I found Walker with my cell phone in his hands.

"What are you doing?" I demanded. My heart pounded even though I knew that I deleted all my texts last night. I did at the end of every day.

He briefly glanced at me before going back to the phone. "Getting your number."

"I thought you didn't want it?" I said as I crossed my arms under my breasts.

"I don't want it, but having each other's numbers in case we get separated and something happens is a necessity."

Of course, he was right. But I couldn't let him know that. So I changed the subject. "Why are you all of a sudden all about the patrols? I thought you wanted nothing to do with us now?"

He sighed and handed me my phone. "Christa, I don't want to fight with you. You're a cool person, but you showed me yesterday that you don't understand about me and Tricia. Besides, Jacob was right. I am a part of the weirdness now. If I can help protect you and your people, then I have to. Otherwise my guilt would eat me alive if something happened."

This time my sigh was in defeat. "You're a good guy, Walker. And I do understand about Tricia. Some part of you always knew she wasn't biologically your sister. But I also yelled at you because I'm like Embry. I worry about people. And Tricia seems like a good girl. I don't want to see her world crash because you were selfish with your feelings for her. Some things need to be let go. She sees you and loves you as her brother. That's painfully clear. I guess what I'm saying is that I don't want to see either one of you hurt. Life will take you on the paths you're supposed to be on, so don't force anything, ok? Let it happen."

He studied me for a moment, and then nodded. "I see your point. But let me ask you, does everybody know about my feelings for Tricia?"

I nodded. "Yeah, because we all also know about Embry imprinting on her."

"Everybody really thinks she'll choose him, don't they?"

I shrugged as I grabbed my jacket and locked the door on my way out. "Pretty much. I mean, it's never happened that an imprint didn't pick their wolf. Remember the life/path thing I just spouted? Embry imprinted on her for a reason. She thinks of you as her brother, Walker."

"Have you imprinted?" he asked suddenly.

Instantly, I snapped my mouth shut to keep from answering. We had walked a long way in a short amount of time. Our feet had already taken us past the turn off to the Cullen place.

"I'm sorry. That's too personal," he said.

Yes, it was. Terribly personal, but I had to say something. "Uh, yeah, I did."

He looked at me in surprise. I tried really hard not to meet his eyes in fear that he'd see the truth.

"Where is he? Or she? I'm not entirely sure that works."

I laughed. "No, it's 'he'. Definitely, he."

"Oh. Well, where is he?"

I took a deep breath to keep myself from saying, right beside me. "He's, uh, not around." My heart hurt at the lie, which was a surprise. I wasn't in love to him, just drawn to him. I guess what hurt was that I wanted him to guess that it was him, and for all this shit to work out.

"Oh," he said again. "Well, I'm sorry, I guess."

I swallowed hard. "Thanks."

Ok, we needed to get off this topic. I was terribly close to blurting out everything. But I had to go with the flow. The time would come when everything would come out, but today wasn't it. He had to get his eyes opened by the one person that could do that. Right now, it wasn't me. Maybe one day, it would be me. Hopefully.

"So," I said as we entered the outer edge of town. "I guess we start sniffing around. Seth and a couple others are on a patrol in wolf form around the town just in case."

"You think we'll find anything?"

"It's possible." I lowered my voice even though they could probably still hear me. "With our houses? I doubt they know." Hopefully he'd get it.

He nodded as if he did. "Yeah. Wait, won't my scent mess you up?"

I shook my head. "I know it. Everybody has a specific scent to them. You smell like clean, white boy."

He shot a look at me, and I returned it.

He sighed. "I'm sorry for that comment, ok? I was pissed. I actually still am, but I still shouldn't have said it. I'm not racist at all." When I looked at him, he shrugged. "She's not my sister and another guy is sniffing around her. I don't like it."

Shaking my head, I let it go and reminded myself that there would come a time when Tricia would tell him what's what.

"Come on. Let's walk around."

For about five minutes, we walked around the neighborhood streets until we got to the bustling stores.

"You know," Walker said, looking into the window of the diner. "With just two of us here it's a big town to patrol."

I glanced in the diner, too, and said, "But it's not just us. Seth and the others are around. Not to mention there are others walking around." Unfortunately with me being from the rez and running patrols on the rez, I wasn't familiar with Forks. So, I didn't know all the people the way Walker would. "See anything?" I asked with meaning.

He shook his head. "No, but I do smell something." Leaning in close to me, he breathed, "One of them was here."

Reveling in the closeness, I took a deep inhale of his scent before I backed up to let the breath out. And then I pushed my wolf to the front like Caden had taught us, and scented the wind as subtly as I could. Walker was right. The stench of the disease mixed with the scent of…pine?...floated over to me.

Leaning back over, I breathed just as quietly to him, "Can you follow it? I think you have it better than I do."

He nodded against my ear, and then started down the street. We pretended to be window shopping, but every now and then I saw his nostrils flair as his head moved in the direction of the wind. Eventually, we followed it to the grocery store.

We looked at each other. Giving myself a reason to touch him, I held my hand out.

He gave me a look like he thought I was crazy. "Uh, what?"

I made an exasperated noise. "We can't look like we're looking for someone. We gotta be as inconspicuous as possible. If they're in there, then they'd just think we need groceries," I hissed under my breath.

He sighed as I waggled my fingers at him. Rolling his eyes, he clapped his hand to mine and laced our fingers.

I leaned in. "We also have to play the part. Please, Walker."

With another sigh, he eased into an easy melt-in-your-mouth smile and the tension went out of his body. And then he pulled me into his side with an arm around my shoulder.

"You owe me for this," he gritted out into my hair.

"Duly noted, honey."

He barely contained the grimace. Seriously. Was there something wrong with me, my connection to him, my imprint? Bringing my wolf to the front, I subtly sniffed him. What I got was a surprise. A faint chocolatey scent. The same as what Jacob and Caden had described. Not strong enough to be qualified as love, but maybe…attraction? Experimentally, I squeezed his hand where it draped over my shoulder and moved into the crook of his body. The scent flared for a moment before it died down. Looking up, I noticed he was gritting his teeth.

As we walked into the store hand in hand, I held back my grin by force of will. It wasn't hard once the doors had closed behind us. The smell of the disease was sharp and distinct. Something about the imprint must have dulled the scent of Walker to me because I was standing right next to him and there was barely anything from him except the smell of a warm day and fresh cut grass. I'd have to ask Seth about Shelby.

When he sighed again, I looked up at him and grinned. "You hate this so much, don't you, honey?"

He glared down at me. "You know I do, sweetheart."

Going with the lie, I said, "It's just a little shopping and then we can go home."

"Amen," he grumbled. But he started moving, sniffing subtly as he steered me toward the produce and bread area. We stopped in front of a display of orange peppers when he said, "Didn't you put the list on your phone?"

When I glanced at him, he gave me raised eyebrows. It took me a second, but then I figured it out. The camera. If we saw who it was in the store, we could take a picture and show Caden later in hopes he'd recognize them. Hmmm, maybe we could get others to take a camera and take pictures around town. I'd bet Esme would love that.

"Yeah, I did actually," I said, digging my phone out of my pocket. Clicking through to my camera, I made sure to put everything on silent so that we could be as subtle as possible.

When I'd opened the camera, the most recent picture I'd taken was still up. It was of me and Morgan. She'd surprised me with it while I'd been making breakfast. She'd come up to kiss me on the cheek and snapped the picture. I smiled before dumping it into my gallery. With Walker's arm still wrapped around my shoulders and our hands still latched together, I kept the phone in my left hand between our bodies with my finger on the button just in case.

When I looked up to let him know I was ready, I found that he was smiling gently in a distracted sort of way at my cell phone. I also noticed that that chocolatey scent was back.

Containing my grin, again-just barely-I tugged on his hand where our fingers were laced. I knew he'd get grumpy if he caught me catching him off guard.

"Come on. Let's find everything before it all grows legs and runs away," I said cryptically.

Beside me, I felt him shake his head and square his shoulders as his chest expanded with a deep breath. Truth be told, this felt amazing, and it wasn't even a real relationship…yet. Just being this close to him, I felt calmer and protected. Which was nuts. He didn't feel that way about me. At least, I didn't think so. Scenting him again, that sweet smell was still there. He hadn't shut it down.

This time, his tug was on me. Since we were connected the way we were physically, I had no choice but to follow him with the camera ready. Luckily the dimmer was timed so that I had to look like I was looking at the "list" as we walked. It also helped our cover that Walker picked up a basket as we passed them, and as we followed his nose, he and I both picked up some random things to put in it, pausing to exchange a few words, nods, and looks.

He was pretty sure that we were getting close to whoever it was. And he was pretty sure it was male. As we made our way over toward the hamburger meat and packaged chicken, Walker nodded toward a normal-looking guy with pale skin and short, spiky dark hair. He was standing next to an elderly couple also looking at the hamburger. I could tell Walker wanted to get as close as fast as he could but I forced him to slow down. Our cover would be blown if he did that. Not to mention, the poor elderly couple would probably drop from heart failure if two werewolves went at it, snarling and growling, in the middle of the grocery store.

When he glared at me, I gave him a look. "We're about to pass the lunch meat," I said with my teeth gritted. Glancing back at the guy, I had the thought that, if he'd been there when Walker had been attacked, he'd know who he is. And just as the guy was turning, eyes moving toward us, I snapped a picture, and then whipped Walker around. "See? I need some of this, especially if you want those wraps that I make." I pointed to one of the packages. "No, we need the slow roasted roast beef. That's an important detail."

He rolled his eyes. "Ok, ok. I get it."

"Good." I grabbed the correct package of meat and threw it into the basket.

Pulling him around, I found that the guy was still at the hamburger. Apparently, the old couple had stopped him to talk. It struck me as odd that he seemed calm and at ease with them as if he could have stood there all day to talk. I gave a questioning glance to Walker, who shrugged. Normally, the bad guys who were attacking the townspeople would be in a rush to get out and not care about anybody else.

"You need another package?" Walker asked.

Glancing down at the picture I'd just taken, I nodded. It wasn't all that great. Caden may or may not be able to distinguish who it was, but it was worth it to try for another. Just as we were approaching the hamburger section and I started playing with my phone like it was malfunctioning, the elderly couple turned around as if they were going to continue their shopping. Instead they stopped and stared at us.

For one wild moment, I thought that we'd been wrong, that the scent had been them because it had gotten stronger as we'd gotten closer, but all they did was blink at us before the woman glanced with a smile at her husband. "Oh, Gerald. Aren't they such a beautiful couple?"

Walker and I shared a glance, and then I turned to her with a smile. "Thank you. We're fairly new."

She leaned in toward me. "You know, my father never liked Gerald, but my mother told him to hush because we looked beautiful together. And here we are, fifty years later."

The man, Gerald, came up to touch her elbow. "Emma, dear, leave the poor kids alone. I doubt they want to hear our old fogey stories."

She gave him a smile, and then turned it on us. "Just mark my words. The two of you will end up together. It's inevitable. I promise you."

Gerald led his wife around us as she kept smiling. "Dear, kids these days are not like us. They're all beautiful nowadays."

"Hush, Gerald. Don't be rude. Besides, my gut tells me that those two will end up together."

"Your gut also told you that the economy would get better throughout the year. It's August, nearly September."

"And it's still young, dear."

I tried to hide my smile as they bantered all the way to the checkout counter.

"Old and senile," Walker muttered. "Please kill me if I ever get there."

"I thought they were cute."

"Of course you did."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked as we finished our walk to the meat. The guy was still there, comparing three different packages, and the scent was burning my sinuses.

Walker shrugged. "You're a woman. Women think that sort of thing is cute. Not to mention she predicted we'd shack up together."

"No. She predicted we'd end up together."

"Exactly. That's what I said."

"No," I said again. "There's a difference between shacking up and being together."

"And that is…?"

Leaning over the glass, I held my phone so that the camera was facing the guy as I pretended to inspect the meat. I clicked several pictures before I picked up a package.

"The difference is," I said. "Shacking up means just meeting up to get your grind on. But ending up together is a relationship." I turned to him. "Don't you want to end up with me?"

He shrugged, finally getting into playing along. "Maybe I just wanna get my grind on."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "So you don't want to end up with me? Are you saying that all your wooing has been a lie?" I was baiting him, daring him to bust our cover when we were so close to finishing up our project.

But he didn't disappoint. Stepping into me, Walker turned us so that his back was to the stranger as he wrapped his arms around my waist, forcing me to wind mine around his neck. It was perfect. I could get a really good picture this way. Walker was tall enough that my camera was exactly on face level with the other man.

"Maybe I want both," he whispered in a sexy tone.

I knew on his end, he was just playing along, but my heart raced and pounded up in the vicinity of my throat as he leaned into me. I really wanted both with him. Walker was all-American male, melt-me-into-my-socks sexy. Well-built and tall making me feel safe here in his arms. And that scent. The smell of a fine chocolate just beginning to simmer that hasn't yet reached its potential and had a lot of ground to cover.

Or, my brain said in mutiny, maybe he's just trying to throw off that scent to make us more believable.

Shut up, I said to myself.

Nevertheless, I grinned up at him before he bent down to nuzzle into my neck and hair. With my field of vision clear, I snapped some really good shots of the guy. What I really wanted to do was have some grind time with Walker, and I knew that I was throwing off a scent. I had to be. And I didn't want to hide it. If Walker smelled it and figured out what it was, maybe he'd start to leave Tricia alone.

"Um, excuse me," said a deep voice.

Walker pulled away from me to whip around. I quickly shut my phone down so the screen went blank. When the man in my arms moved, I saw the stranger behind him smiling at us.

"Sorry. I hate to interrupt but I gotta get where you are."

With perfect timing, I blushed. If Walker and I had actually been together and that passionate, I'd have probably let him take me to the floor, which was embarrassing.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. We were totally disgusting in public," I gushed as I pushed Walker out of the way.

The guy shook his head. "Not at all. I don't mind PDA. Why should anyone hide love, huh? It's rare to see true love anyway. Nowadays it's all infatuation and lust, not the kind of stuff where you'd do anything for somebody. The world should see the real thing."

Ok, either we were really good at this lying thing, or we had some subconscious attraction thing going on that everybody could see but us. And with that thought, I noticed that the sweet scent from Walker had seriously died down. I could barely smell it. But he did keep a hand at the small of my back.

"Oh, I'm sorry," the guy said. "I didn't mean to kill the mood."

Walker laughed an easy laugh. "Don't worry about it. I shouldn't have started anything here anyway. She can't really ever say no."

I glared at him. "And he has a hard time being humble." I turned a smile to the other guy. "But I suppose he's right. We'd best be getting out of here. We have to be somewhere in an hour," I said, checking the time on my phone. "Thank you for not giving us a hard time. Maybe we'll see you around sometime."

The guy grinned as we walked past him. "No problem. And hey, that old couple was right. The two of you are seriously for each other."

I smiled again. "Thanks. Have a good one."

"You, too."

With a hand still on my back, Walker took us down a few aisles, dropped our basket down out of sight and rushed me out of the store. When we got outside, he took a deep breath and stepped out of reach of me. I suddenly felt a little colder.

"Was it just me, or did he seem super nice?" Walker asked.

I nodded. "Definitely charismatic. And if he caught onto us at all, he didn't show it."

"Maybe he thinks we can't figure out who he is. If that's the case then he wouldn't care about pictures."

Checking my clock again, I realized that we'd only taken up a full twenty minutes in there. We still had another thirty on our patrol shift.

"Come on. Let's walk a little more. We have some time."

Walker nodded and led the way.

**TriciaPOV**

This house was suffocating. Mom and dad were still upset over Walker. I tried to tell them that he was fine, but they wouldn't listen. Their precious boy was sick and away from home. Mom's "mommy complex" was going through withdrawals from not being able to take care of her baby boy.

I rolled my eyes as I stepped into the backyard. Even though I knew there was something in the woods, the trees just didn't look all that ominous. Surely, I could go in just a little ways and have some peace and quiet.

Making sure to keep my eyes and ears open, I slowly made my way through the brush and sticks. There was a really good reading log a little more ways in. I was halfway there when I felt something skitter up my spine, almost like I was being watched. Twisting around to look behind me, I didn't see anything moving around, not even a breeze came by.

When I turned back around to keep going, however, I shouted and backed up, tripping over a root. As I fell hard on my ass, I went absolutely still. A very large, stupidly large, tan wolf was standing there in the pathway. He wasn't too close so I scrambled back a little until my back hit a tree. Watching me down his muzzle, he sat down and huffed.

Ooook, he wasn't coming after me, not attacking. Maybe if I just went back the way I came, he wouldn't follow. Just as I was about to scramble up to my feet, the wolf stood up and slowly walked over to me. Head down and ears down, I could tell it was an attempt not to scare me, nothing aggressive. How I knew that, I didn't know. But there was something odd about the look in those dark brown eyes. Something…human.

Going absolutely still, I barely breathed as the wolf rubbed his muzzle against my cheek and put his nose into my hair. A deep thrum reverberated in his chest, and it took me a moment to realize it was the wolf version of a purr. With a pull in my gut, I instinctively leaned into the touch. The wolf's cheek was abnormally warm and comforting. There was something about this interaction that just felt right and safe, but totally weird. I knew wolves didn't act like this, nor were they this large.

Behind me, I heard the squeak of the back door. "Tricia?" Dad called.

Taking a deep breath, I hoped that my voice wouldn't shake. "I gotta go," I whispered. "Ok?"

Slowly, the wolf backed up and sat down once more. Yeah, there was something seriously off with this animal. It knew what I was saying.

"Tricia? Are you out there?"

I cleared my throat. "Yeah," I called. "I'm on my way."

Getting up, I backed my way through the woods. I told myself it was too keep the threat in sight, but really, I just wanted to look at him. And he watched me. As soon as I reached the edge of the woods, he let out a bark and took off, loping through the trees. I did the same, only less elegantly.

As I approached the back porch, dad was standing there with his arms crossed. "You know you're not supposed to be in the woods right now. Chief Swan specifically warned us about that, Tricia."

I nodded. "Yeah, you're right. Sorry. I was just on my way back in. I got the creeps. But, dad, would you mind if I went to the library? I want to check out another book."

He arched an eyebrow. It was easy to tell where Walker got his good looks from. Mom was gorgeous but dad had been what Walker was: the cool jock that every girl wanted but who never dated any of them.

"Tricia, you've read every book in that library."

"True, but there's no crime in reading something again. Please? I just need to stretch my legs and I'll stick to the main roads. And I'll be home before dark. I promise."

He studied me for a moment. And then nodded. "Dinner will be on the table at six. Please be home before then."

I looked at my watch. A two hour walk. I could handle that. I might even go to the library. Dad followed me back into the house where I grabbed my jacket, pecked mom on the cheek, and went out the front door.

When I turned around from locking the door, I got the second shock of the day. Except this time, I didn't fall on my ass when I nearly ran into Embry.

"Ohmygod, you scared the shit out of me," I said clutching my chest.

He smiled. "Sorry. I didn't figure you one to startle. You ok?"

Swallowing my heart back down, I said, "Yeah. I was just-,"

"In the woods where you shouldn't be?" he finished with raised eyebrows.

Before what he said sank in I said, "Yeah, but…wait a minute. How did you…?"

Reaching toward me, he picked at my hair. Pulling his hand back, there was a leaf between his fingers.

He shrugged as he tossed the leaf. "Just a guess."

With a frown, I watched as it floated to the ground. He was lying. Something told me was. But…he wasn't in the woods. I would have seen him. The brush and such was sparse near my house. Looking up into his eyes, I had the weirdest thought of my entire of my life: maybe he had been there, and I'd looked into his eyes, his human eyes in a wolf body. Those eyes staring back at me held the same knowledge and understanding that the wolf had had. But that wasn't possible. People did not turn into wolves. However, I had told Embry that I believed in things that may not have a firm explanation. Maybe this was one of them.

"Tricia?" he asked worriedly. "Seriously, are you ok?"

I shook my head and laughed. "Yeah, yeah, I'm good. Walk me to the library?"

He gave me a look like he didn't believe I was ok, but he smiled. "Sure. I was just heading into town anyway."

"Really?" I asked suspiciously.

"Sure."

I crossed my arms and gave him a look. "Let me guess, guard duty?"

He opened his mouth as if he were going to answer, and then closed it and shrugged.

Shaking my head, I walked past him and started down the street. "I really wish you guys would tell me what the hell is going on. Walker's sick but not sick. There's something in the woods that shouldn't be. And the Cullens? They're gorgeous with eyes the color of butterscotch. And Caden, too, but somehow he's different than the Cullens."

After a moment, he caught up to me. "So, tell me, what do you think is going on with your brother?"

"Well, he's definitely more aggressive."

"Has he always been like this?"

"I mean, he's always been protective and whatnot, but this is over the top. More so than when mom and dad told us I was adopted. After that day, he started being overbearing. Now, it's like he's primal."

"Well, he is a big brother."

I gave him a look. "Come on. I know you see how he acts around me, It might be creepy, but he thinks he's in love with me and has since mom and dad told us I wasn't related to him by blood. Ever since that day, things have gotten tense between us. That's why I keep calling him my brother. Maybe he'll get the hint."

"Maybe you should actually talk to him about it. Seriously, how are you going to have a life with him breathing down your neck when you don't feel for him that way? How are you going to be able to talk to other guys or hang out with them or...date them?"

The last he said as if he were in pain about having to say it all.

I smiled and jumped of a metaphorical cliff. Bumping his shoulder, I said, "I am right now, aren't I?"

He jerked in surprise and stared at me. And then swallowed hard. "You know I meant guys that you're into and want to have in your life."

Blushing, I bumped his shoulder again. "And again, I say, I am, right now, aren't I?"

Suddenly, he stopped and gripped my wrist, his thumb rubbing over the top of my hand. He looked around at our surroundings. We had stopped on a stretch of road that was situated between neighborhoods which meant that we were basically alone in the woods. There was a small break in the trees that he focused on. Looking back and forth across the street, he tugged me by my wrist over there.

"What are you doing?"

"You really want to know what's going on, right?"

"Well, yeah."

"Then, trust me. I know you don't know me, but trust me. I won't let anything happen to you, ok?"

I nodded, realized he couldn't see it, and said, "Ok. I trust you." And I meant it. I didn't know what it was about him, but I trusted him instinctively.

Embry pulled me through the trees, and when we came to a stop, I looked back. I could still see the hole in the trees at the road so that if something happened, I wouldn't get stuck in here. I wasn't sure if he'd done that one purpose but I was still appreciative of the fact.

Turning to face me with my hand still in his, he said, "Stay here, ok? I'll be right back."

I gave him a confused look to which he brought my fingers to his lips. And then he was gone, moving toward a large tree. When he disappeared behind it and there was no more noise from him, I hugged my arms around my torso. Ok, he was being mysterious, but I could handle that. There was some weird stuff going on around Forks. And somehow I knew that Embry wouldn't hurt me. The sincerity in his voice always threw me off because he'd been right; I didn't know him, but I wanted to.

A rustle of leaves brought my attention back to the clearing. Checking my watch, I realized it'd been a good five minutes of me just standing there.

"Embry?" I asked.

When there was no answer, I took a step forward. I was mid-step when the leaves rustled again. I froze as I felt more than saw something large shift around the back of the tree.

"Embry," I called again, more of a demand for him to answer than anything.

I got nothing. Except another shaking of brush. Another step, and I froze again as that something large moved around the tree.

My hands flew to my mouth in a breathless gasp as the giant tan wolf came toward me. The same wolf from earlier came toward me slowly, his ears down, tail between his legs, and head lowered. There was nothing threatening about the gesture. It was as if he were trying not to scare me. How I knew that, I didn't know. It just felt right.

My eyes went to the tree and then back to the wolf. "I'll be right back."

The wolf lay down instantly, belly to the ground and head on his paws. Keeping an eye on him, I inched around his massive body until I got to the tree. Looking behind it, I found a neatly folded pile of clothes: Embry's clothes.

With my heart in my throat, I went back to stand in front of the wolf. He had his eyes closed as if he couldn't handle seeing whatever emotion was in my eyes if it was negative.

"Embry," I said in a breathy voice. He didn't open his eyes, so I cleared my throat to make it stronger. "Embry, look at me."

Those eyes opened and stared up at me, and instantly, I knew them. Definitely seen those dark chocolate eyes before, staring at me from a human face. Sinking to my knees a couple feet away from his nose, I reached out a tentative hand. When he didn't snap at me or pull away, I stroked my fingers up between his eyes.

Grinning, I stayed like that for five minutes before I noticed a sound coming from him. It sounded like the wolf version of a purr. Those eyes closed in ecstasy. I leaned forward to press a kiss to him muzzle. I wasn't sure why I did it, but he and I both were surprised by it. His eyes snapped open to stare at me, but I just smiled.

"I have so many questions. You know that, right?" I whispered.

He closed his eyes and purred again. Pausing for a moment, I took a deep breath and did what I'd been wanting to do since I sat down with him. Turning my back to him, I scooted back between his paws so that my back was against his shoulder. He froze for just a second in surprise, but got over it quickly because he rested his head on my shoulder, cuddling his face to my neck.

It was so warm here surrounded by him. And that's how we passed the time. There was no telling how long we actually stayed like that. All I knew was that the clouds came and went, hiding and revealing a little sunlight. But eventually, darkness started to fall around us.

I was leaning my head back against him, feeling sleepy and safe, when he went on alert. His head and ears went to attention, whole body stiffening.

"What is it?" I asked him, even though he couldn't answer in his current form.

Even though he was on red alert, he gently pushed me up so that he could go back to the tree. As I was brushing the dirt from my jeans, he came back around fully clothed. For some reason, he wouldn't meet my eyes as he took my hand.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

He shook his head. "I don't know. I heard something that was bigger than a deer, so I want to get you out of here."

He'd misconstrued my question. I actually hadn't been asking about his sudden change in mood, but his awkwardness now that he was back to his human form. Instead of correcting him, I just went with it and nodded, squeezing his hand. He squeezed back and motioned me ahead of him to start walking for the road.

Ten minutes later, we made it back to my house with his eyes searching our surroundings. If he'd been in wolf form, I had no doubt his ears would also be perked up, listening.

Finally, he looked back down at me. "So, I guess I'll see you tomorrow. I-Jake put me on your guard duty."

I gripped his hand and swallowed hard. "Why?"

He shrugged but didn't meet my eyes.

"Ok, well, why don't you stay?"

That got his eyes to snap to mine.

I shrugged. "Stay for dinner. Or I'll just sneak out to meet you tonight. I have questions, Embry. And I can't wait til tomorrow." I could tell he was about to say no to all the above, so I put on my best puppy dog eyes. "Please? Come to dinner with me. Mom and dad have been pestering me anyway about Walker."

His face positively melted as he sighed. "Ok, fine. I'll come in. But are you sure it's ok with your parents?"

I said through my grin, "Of course. You can feed them some comforting crap about my brother."

He rolled his eyes as I pulled him toward the house. "Great. You're gonna put me in the spotlight."

"Hey, at least my dad likes you."

"And you don't think he'll notice something between us?"

That brought me up short to spin around and look at him in surprise. "What?"

He gave me a look and a soft smile. "Come on, Tricia. I can smell your attraction to me. And...I'm not exactly repulsed by you. Not to mention, we totally had a moment back in the woods, didn't we?" He stepped closer and spoke the last in a low tone.

I swallowed hard and nodded. So he wasn't repulsed by me, and he'd liked the cuddle session back in the woods.

I had a thought, and it made me not want to meet his eyes as I asked, "So, if you're not repulsed by me, what was all that stuff about dating other guys and whatnot?"

He laughed, but it wasn't that warm sound that I was used to. It sounded like broken glass. "I was trying to tell you that just because I might very well be attracted to you, you do have other choices."

Feeling brave again, I kissed his fingers just like he had mine. "What if I don't need choices? What if I've decided?"

When he didn't say anything, I thought maybe I'd crossed a line. But when I met his eyes, he was smiling gently at me. And then he stepped away from me two seconds before the front door opened.

"Tricia?" mom said. "Dinner's ready." And then she saw Embry. "Oh, hi. I didn't know we were having company."

"Mom, you remember Embry. He came with Charlie Swan and Jacob Black."

She smiled. "Of course, of course. Come on in."

"Are you sure? I don't want to interrupt family time."

I reached back to pinch him. "Ow," I heard him hiss.

Mom's grin widened. "No worries. We have plenty of food. And you can tell us about our son." She turned down the hallway, leaving the door opened for us to follow.

I looked back at him in time to see him roll his eyes. Smiling, I reached back to take his hand in mine. After I located the spot where I pinched him, I pressed a gentle kiss to the skin.

"Sorry," I whispered.

He squeezed my fingers. "It's ok. Now, let's get dinner over with, shall we?"

When we were all settled at the table, Mom and Dad moved in like sharks on Embry about Walker.

"So, Mr. Call, how's my son?"

Embry cleared his throat and wiped his mouth with a napkin. "Um, Embry, please. But Walker? He's doing great. He's very close to the point that he can come home."

"Tricia tells us that she's seen him. But is the sickness contagious? Is she in danger of getting it?" Mom asked after a sip of sweet tea.

Embry shook his head. "Absolutely not. He was quarantined. All that's left is for him to heal up with some antibiotics."

Dad frowned. "Then why can't he just come home to finish up the medicine?"

Embry never hesitated. "Just to make sure it's gone when he's done taking them."

"What was the illness, exactly?"

Embry choked a bit on his drink. I patted his back and smiled at Mom and Dad.

"They told me it was a rare virus," I said. "Very rare, so they had to call to other specialists to figure out what to do for it."

"Oh," Mom said and took another sip of her drink.

Embry smiled at me in gratitude, but I felt eyes on me. Looking over, I found Dad watching us.

He cleared his throat and gave Embry "the eyebrow". "So, Embry, how old are you?"

"Dad-," I started.

Embry touched my arm. "It's ok," he said to me, and then turned to my dad. "I'm twenty-six." The look he gave my father was a challenge because we all knew what was coming.

Both eyebrows rose at that. "Twenty-six? Don't you think that's a little old to be ogling my seventeen year old daughter?"

Embry smiled but not like he thought it was funny. Calmly, he wiped his mouth and placed the napkin beside his plate. I took his hand under the table and was surprised to find that he was shaking.

"Sir, let me explain something to you as politely as I can. Pertaining to your daughter, I haven't known her long, but I do care for her. We get along and we're friends. I would never push her into anything she didn't want to do. Ever. As for the age difference? She was the one who told me not to worry about it because, as you probably wouldn't believe, I had actually mentioned it." Squeezing my fingers, he let go of my hand and stood up. "And I don't appreciate the fact that you're insinuating that I am a man that would ever hurt or take advantage of a woman when you know nothing about me." He looked over to my mother, and smiled genuinely. "Dinner was amazing. Thank you for letting me join you." Then he reached down to bring my hand to his lips. "I'll see you later, ok?" His eyes were full of hurt, but also a hidden meaning that his words didn't betray in the least.

And then he was gone. We all listened as the front door opened and then closed sharply.

Mom glared at Dad. "David, that was hardly necessary."

He didn't seem ruffled in the least. He just shrugged and picked up the sports page he'd been reading before dinner. "He's ten years older than she is, June."

Glaring at him myself, I stood up and threw my napkin on the table. "You are such a hypocrite," I said. When they both looked at me in shock, I pointed a finger at him. "You're eleven years older than mom."

He gave me a look that told me he pitied me. "Honey, that's different."

"Why? Because mom was twenty?" I demanded.

"Well, yes, but also you have no experience with relationships."

Mom cleared her throat. "I didn't either, David. You were my first."

He turned a glare on her to which she shrugged.

"See, Dad? Embry's a good guy. He didn't deserve that."

He rolled his eyes. "Tricia, honey, you don't know the man. He-,"

I pointed the finger at him again. "No, you don't know him. I'm the one who talks to him. I'm the one who interacts with him. You have no right to question my judgement when you haven't even talked to him for longer than ten minutes."

He put down the paper and glared at me. As I shook my head and turned to go for the door, I heard, "Now, young lady, where do you think you're going?"

"Enough, David," Mom said in a stern tone. "She has a point."

That was the last I heard as I slammed the front door. Running out into the road, I looked left and right. He was already gone. And as a wolf, he could have gone anywhere, but I had to try. Choosing to go right because that was the direction the reservation and Cullen house was in, I made my way in the chilly wind and damp air. The clouds were back and looking like they were about to dump a shower on us. Picking up my pace, I jogged a little to warm up. I was almost to the Cullen turn-off when I saw his broad shoulders hunched over.

"Embry!" I yelled.

He instantly turned around. He stuffed his hands into his pockets, straightened his spine, and waited for me. I ran to him.

"What are you doing, Tricia?" he asked as his eyes searched the woods.

"I'm...sorry," I huffed out. As soon as I stopped running and slowed down, I got cold. Shivering, I wrapped my arms around myself and instinctively stepped closer to him. Again, he took off his button down shirt and wrapped it around me. "Thanks," I said, cuddling down into the warmth. It was kind of hard not to stare at him though with him just standing there in a white ribbed tank top.

"Answer the question. What are you doing? You shouldn't be out alone. It's not safe."

His voice jolted me out of my staring escapade. How embarrassing.

Through my blush, I said, "I couldn't just let you walk out without coming after you. Couldn't let you think that I was just going to let him say those things to you." Reaching my arms through the long sleeves, I gripped his hand. "I support you, you know."

Smiling at me, he used his other arm to wrap me in a hug. "Thanks. Now, let's get you back, ok? Don't want your dad to call Charlie."

I clutched at his shirt. "I still have questions, though."

"We always have tomorrow."

I sighed as he tucked me into his side and started walking. I was forced to keep up with him. It didn't feel like he was about to let me go, and I was perfectly ok with that.

Eventually, we made it back to my house for the second time. When I started to take off his shirt, he shook his head.

"Just keep it. I'm sure I'd just be giving it back to you."

"I would offer for you to come back in, but I don't want Dad near you. He's an ass and he needs to cool down after I yelled at him."

Embry's eyebrows met his hairline. "You yelled at him? Why?"

I shrugged and blushed. "Like I said, he shouldn't have said what he said. And he tried to tell me that I didn't know you."

"Well, you don't. Not really."

I glared up at him. "I know enough. I know more than he does. I know that I really like you and that I really want you to climb the tree in my backyard to get into my window so you can answer my questions. But clearly you would never do that because I don't know you."

My anger was childish and frankly had no base, but I was tired of people telling me what I did and didn't know, and how I did or didn't feel. Lately, that had been everybody's goal in life. And the fact that Embry, the guy that totally made me blush, was now doing it, just ticked me off even more. But it also hurt. So, keeping his shirt, I turned around and went into the house.

"Tricia? We need to talk," Dad called from the sitting room. He still sounded mad.

Sighing, I turned to my left and went into the room. He was sitting in his favorite recliner while Mom sat on the couch with her knitting needles. A friend of the family was about to have a baby. Usually, she was very calm and humming while she knitted. Tonight, she was knitting rather furiously, the needles clinking hard and fast. Apparently, they were both still angry.

I perched on the edge of the other recliner, preparing to flee quickly once this was over. Dad's expression turned angry as he scrutinized the shirt that had been on Embry just a few minutes ago.

"Tricia, I know you think you like this-this man, but you don't know him. And neither do I. If he was from Forks, I would know him. But, honey, I've been where you are. And so has your mother. You're a teenager."

"But, dad,-"

He glared at me. "No 'buts', Tricia. I don't want you around him. He's too old for you. The world and people are different now than they were when your mother and I were young."

I threw up my hands. "Then let me get to know him. Heck, we just established today that we like each other. I know couples these days don't actually date anymore. They just declare they like each other and then, bam, they're in a relationship. But he's not like that. Don't forbid me from seeing him. Please." I grasped at one last straw. "He's our link to Walker for now."

He sighed angrily. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw mom grin.

"You're only to see him regarding Walker."

Well, that was more than I'd been hoping for. Nodding, I got up and went for the stairs. I kept my eyes down on the floor, even when I went through the door to my room. I did that when I was deep in thought. It was like looking at anything else would divert me from what I needed to figure out. Sighing, I leaned against the door after I closed it and stared at my toes. I'd taken off my shoes in the foyer.

"He still doesn't like me, huh?"

I let out a little yelp as my heart threatened to spill out of my mouth. My jaw hit the floor as I looked up to see Embry sprawled on my bed, leaning against my headboard with his hands behind his head.

"Embry!" I hissed as I locked my door. "What are you doing in here?"

He shrugged and gave me a look with a sly grin. "You told me to climb the tree and come here. So I did. Are you telling me you want me to leave?"

I shook my head as I bit my lip to hide my grin. I rushed over to the bed and hopped onto it, landing on my knees. Moving around, I buttoned up his shirt and tucked my knees up into it, wrapping my arms around my knees. The shirt smelled of crisp autumn leaves. Though we didn't have those here, I had visited Tennessee once in the fall. It had been gorgeous, and the leaves had a different scent as they turned colors and fell to the earth to crunch under foot. It also smelled vaguely of dirt, of the forest. I guess being a werewolf, he was in the woods a lot. It made sense.

He reached over to play with the sleeve that was covering my fingers. "You said you had questions. I suppose now would be a good time."

I grinned, but didn't know where to start. First off, Embry was in my bedroom! And he looked good here. But also, I had no idea where to start.

I decided to state the obvious. "So, you're a werewolf," I whispered.

He grinned at me. "Yeah, I am." The grin faded and his eyes dropped away. "Is...is that ok?"

Ducking down, I caught his eye, smiled and nodded. "Are there others?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Jake is our pack leader. Therefore, he's pretty much the chief of the rez."

"Wow, but to tell the truth, I kind of knew there something about him. And is Nessie one of you?"

Frowning, he cleared his throat and shook his head. "No. But you were right. The Cullens are different. I just can't tell you. It's their rules."

"Um, ok. Well, can you tell me what's really going on with Walker?"

He took a deep breath. "I can, but you kind of need some background info, I guess."

I leaned forward, craving the knowledge. "I got all night."

He shifted so that he was lying on his side facing me, propped up on his elbow. "Ok, so let's start with my type of werewolf. I won't tell you all the legends right now, but basically, our type is genetic. And it's triggered when a certain...enemy is close to us. Back when I was sixteen, the Cullens moved back to Forks...and I phased."

My eyes bugged. "The Cullens are your enemies?"

"Not them specifically, but what they are. The gene didn't discern the who's who of them, ya know? But anyway. There is another type of werewolf. They're known as the Children of the Moon. I'm sure you've heard of lycanthropy, right?"

I nodded.

"Well, that's what they are. It's a disease that they have...and it's spread by a bite or scratch, by an attack." He looked up at me from under lowered lids.

I gasped as what he was saying clicked. "Walker?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Caden is one of them. He's from Europe. He's helping to train Walker so that he can control himself and not shift."

"But why all the guard duty?"

He took a deep breath. "Tricia, there's a war going on right now. The beings that the Cullens are have leaders that are like royalty, and right now, they don't like the Cullens. So they recruited a pack of dominant shapeshifters to help destroy the Cullens and my pack. A member of that pack attacked Walker in hopes of recruiting against us from our own turf. They know we have Walker. And they're in the town searching to recruit. We have to protect you and your parents. We're training Walker, and getting trained ourselves by Caden."

Thinking about everything, I pulled my hands out of the long sleeves to play with his fingers. "So, you're protecting me?"

He laced his fingers with mine. "I put myself on your patrols. Jake agreed."

"Why?" I whispered.

Swallowing hard, he pressed a kiss to my fingers. "If I tell you, you can't say anything to Walker, or your parents. Each for different reasons."

"Tell me the reasons first." I wanted to know before I agreed to anything.

"Walker because of how he would react. He probably wouldn't understand. And he thinks he's in love with you. Until the two of you resolve that, it could cause problems. And your parents? If we do this between us, it needs to be slow. Like you said, dating. I need to prove to your dad that I'm not a pedophile or rapist."

"So, hypothetically speaking, I'd have to sneak around my brother's back with you, and tell my dad that you asked me out? Dad talks to Walker, Embry."

"Slow, Tricia. We don't have to 'date' just yet. Hang out and stuff. I'll walk you to town when I see you come out or something."

I took a deep breath. "Ok, we're talking about dating and it sounds like you want to ask me out, but why the interest in me in the first place? I saw how you were the first time we met. That was more than just initial attraction, wasn't it? Why go to the length to protect me the way you have?"

He wouldn't meet my eyes when he swallowed hard and ran his thumb over my knuckles. "I'm just gonna jump right in. It's called imprinting and it only happens with my type of wolf."

"What is it?"

"Well, there are a lot of theories that we've come up with. The best genetic match to carry on the gene. Soul mates. Stuff like that. It isn't exactly love at first sight, but it's...extreme attachment at first sight."

"What are you saying?"

He took another deep breath and let it out slowly. "I'm saying that the moment you and I locked eyes, it was you holding me to the planet. It was you who turned into my gravity. It's now my job to become anything you need me to be." When I gave him a look, he continued with a thoughtful expression. "Let me use Jake and Ness for example. When Nessie was a baby, that was when Jacob imprinted on her. She was his gravity, but it wasn't romantic ties. As the wolf who imprinted on her, it was his job to be whatever she needed. So, at first it was protector. As she got older, it was more brotherly. Then, friend into best friend. Eventually boyfriend. Now, lover and fiance."

I frowned. "But...you encouraged me to see other guys?"

His fingers tightened on mine. "The imprint always has a choice. If you didn't want me, I would have let you go. Your happiness is all that matters to me."

"You don't have a choice?" I asked.

He shrugged. "I guess I do. But I couldn't imagine being attracted to another woman. It just...doesn't compute to me, the thought of dating someone else or looking after someone else."

Holy. Cow. He was serious, and I didn't know how to wrap my head around it.

"So, if I picked another guy, you'd-what? Turn into a brother figure, and make sure he's good enough for me?"

"Something like that."

"Has any imprint chosen someone else?"

Leaning forward, he pressed his lips to my knuckles again and shook his head. "Not in my lifetime. I don't think it's ever happened, because the wolf is whatever the imprint needs them to be."

I lifted his hand to my lips, brushing the back of it. "I don't think I'm going to be any different, then."

While he stared at me in surprise, I reached over to my bedside table to for the remote that went with my ceiling fan. After I turned out the light, I used our intertwined hands to maneuver us so that my back was pressed to his front and his arm was around me.

"What are you doing?" he asked in a choked voice.

"I like you. You like me. And I know that you'd never hurt me. I feel safe with you, and I want you here with me tonight."

His breathing became fast and heavy, but eventually, with us just laying there, he calmed down. The tension in his body slowly eased away.

"It's ok. They can't get into my room from the outside. I have to unlock it. And don't worry. My closet it big enough to stuff you into it."

After a moment of silence, the bed started to shake. He buried his face into my neck and I heard him laugh in fits.

"Good deal," he managed to get out.

Smiling, I gripped his arm tighter around me and fell into the warmest sleep I'd ever had.

**JPOV**

Where the hell was Embry? No calls with updates on the patrol or telling me where he was. He'd checked in with me at the cabin before heading over to Tricia's, but I hadn't heard a word from him since, and that had been hours ago. The next time I saw him I was going to beat him into the ground for worrying me.

"Jacob, I'm sure he's ok," Nessie said from the couch. She had her knees up to her chest with Leila laying on them.

Leila was playing in Nessie's hair which was down around her shoulders. She'd taken a shower earlier and let it air dry, which made it a frothy mass of curls. Sam was on his way up for his daughter as I paced the living room.

"That's not the point, Ness. He should have called me for an update by now."

A moment later, there was a knock at the door. I opened it to reveal Sam, Emily, Christa, and Walker. The last two looked angry and very carefully didn't look at each other. Their jaws were set and eyes far away from the other.

I mentally sighed as I let Sam and Emily in. Em went straight for the couch while Sam stayed with me and watched our girls interact. Christa and Walker stepped off the porch and went in separate directions. Geez. They were like elementary school kids with "cooties". Really?

Sam clapped me on the shoulder as I closed the door. "They'll all figure it out, Jake. I heard about Embry."

I nodded. "Yeah, perfect timing and everything. And Christa with Walker?" I shook my head. "Thank God, this house is soundproof. I've been ranting for hours."

"He really has," Ness said.

I gave her a look. She just smiled and went back to being a godmother. She got up from the couch to start gathering Leila's stuff. Toys, pacifiers, clothes, diapers, and bottles were scattered everywhere. Even though she was just three months old, that tiny butt had been all over this house. Well, I'd pulled her all over. She hadn't wanted to stand up with my help so I'd just used her butt as a broom. She'd enjoyed it, giggling all over the place. We had to wash that outfit afterward.

"Hey, Sam, have you heard from Embry today?"

He shook his head. "I don't really hear from the pack these days what with everything going on."

"Sorry."

"Don't worry about it. Once this mess gets taken care of, we'll all be able to rest easy and visit. Right now, you really don't have the time to visit. You gotta make plans. I understand, Jake. Don't forget that I was Alpha for a long time. And you're doing a great job. If you listen to anyone, let it be me because I've been in your shoes. They haven't."

"Thanks, Sam." And I meant it. Hearing that from him made me feel like I wasn't a complete failure to my tribe.

They didn't stay long and soon the house was quiet and significantly cleaner. And then I had a thought to call Craig. He was on patrol of Walker's house so more than likely, he could tell me where Embry was since Embry wouldn't answer his damn phone.

"Hey, what's up, Jake?" he answered. He sounded vaguely out of breath.

"Have you heard from Embry? He hasn't called with an update for hours."

"Uh, yeah, actually. He, um, he's in Tricia's room."

"What?!" I nearly shouted.

"Yeah. Uh, he shifted for her, and then told her about the wolves and imprinting, and the light just went off. So, I'm assuming he's not coming out. But I don't hear anything. I think they're just laying down. Honest. Also, her dad doesn't like him."

I felt hands wrap around my waist and move under my shirt. Nessie's hands and nails lightly traced over the skin of my stomach as she kissed my spine through my shirt.

With Nessie wrapped around me, I was more calm than I would have been otherwise. "How did she react?"

"Over all? Pretty well. She stayed calm. He told her that he wanted to go slow and date her so her dad would be less angry. But he told her not to tell Walker about the imprint because Tricia and Walker had yet to talk things out. That's what Embry wants, but it seems that she thinks Walker's going to just go with it if she keeps calling him her brother. What Embry didn't tell her was that Walker already knows about it."

"What?" I asked. "How?"

There was a sound over the phone like he was shrugging. "Christa phased and I got the conversation. She told him, but he doesn't quite grasp how binding the imprint is."

Sighing, I pinched the bridge of my nose. It was getting kind of hard to think with Nessie's hands on me. Her fingers had splayed out under the edge of my jeans, barely brushing the head of my ever-growing erection. It was a tie on whether or not I was glad I didn't wear underwear all the time.

"Alright. Well, we'll deal with this later. The four of them need to settle this whole love...square on their own. There's only so much we can do. I'm assuming nothing happened on patrol, right?"

"Not a damn thing otherwise I would have called you."

"Good. Now get home to your son."

"Absolutely. Good night, Jake."

I hung up to get lost in Nessie. Craig was a good guy but we all felt sorry for him. He'd lost his imprint in childbirth. She'd come to me when she'd found out she was pregnant to tell me if something happened to her, she didn't want her husband to stop phasing if their child survived. She'd had a family history of women not making it on the birthing table. She'd also had it put in her will. It was a fear we all had.

Nessie had unbuttoned my jeans, but not unzipped. Just enough room to maneuver. When I tried to turn around, she gripped my hardness tight to let me know she didn't want that. I inhaled sharply as her hand stayed around me while the other roamed up over the muscles of my stomach and up to my chest, slowly lifting the shirt. When both of her hands went to my shirt, I sank down a little and lifted my arms so she could take it off of me. I felt her breasts rub up my back before she breathed into my ear.

"Come make love to me," she whispered.

And a moment later, I was standing in the middle of the living room alone with my pants unbuttoned and my erection pounding. Turning around toward the bedroom, I stalked her slowly. I wanted her, but more than that, I wanted to make sure she knew that I loved her. I was tired of fast, always going, never savoring. Tonight I wanted to savor.

I took the stairs down to our bedroom slowly, one at a time. Mentally, I was preparing myself for whatever I would find. Either she was naked on the bed or there would be something else for me to salivate over.

And sure enough, I found her lying in the bed, her back against the headboard. But she wasn't naked. It looked like a nightgown, but silk and strappy. It was sexy as hell. The black made her alabaster skin glow as bright as a full moon and her hair shine like fire. The top was so tiny that her full breasts were barely covered, and the hem so short that if I strained my eyes hard enough, I could see what was under it in the shadow.

I finished taking off my jeans and crawled up over the foot of the bed while she grinned at me in the most sexy way. It wasn't a girl's grin, but the grin of a woman who was aroused and saw the perfect way to fulfill her craving. She'd painted her toenails a deep black after she'd gotten out of the shower. It matched the outfit perfectly. Which made me pause.

"This is what Alice dropped off, isn't it?" I asked. My voice had dropped down to a bass rumble, almost a growl, with lust. Alice had come by earlier with a bag and a meaningful look at Nessie. I had thought that it was for the wedding. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised.

Nessie nodded slowly and lifted her foot so that her toe could run circles around my nipple. Closing my eyes, I enjoyed it for a few moments before I gripped her ankle gently and lifted her foot to face level. I kissed the top of her foot and moved to the inside of her ankle. Gentle, butterfly kisses all the way up her leg. She arched her hips up as my lips barely brushed the hem of the silk. She groaned when I moved back down the bed to start on her other foot and leg. I kept my hand on the leg I had just ravished as I gave my attentions to the other. There was a spot on the inside of her thigh that if hit just right would make her groan and grip the sheets. I gently grazed my teeth over that spot on her right leg and she arched up off the bed. With my teeth still set into her skin, I rolled my eyes up to watch her breasts strain against the thin fabric. If it was possible, I got even harder, a second heartbeat below my waist.

This time though, I didn't take my mouth off of her or stop at the hem. I nuzzled it up until it was around her waist. And I got the shock of my life. A thin strip of cotton barely covered her core. I looked up at her in surprise.

"Is that a-?"

"Thong?" She nodded. "I bought it before we got together. In fact, I have a few of them."

"And why haven't you worn them?"

She shrugged and it pulled the silk over her breasts again. "I was going to, but every time we make love it's fast. We just rip each other's clothes off."

I grinned and put my mouth over the cotton, over her core. Her head flew back into the pillows as her eyes closed and her breathing became fast and shallow. For some reason tonight, her breasts just did it for me. The way the meat looked against the dark material just made me hungry for her. And now I knew what lingerie was for. This hunger was dangerous in a lust-filled setting.

I sucked her and the fabric of the thong into my mouth and tasted sweet rain. She was more than ready for me. But tonight, I didn't want all the extra bits. I just wanted to make slow love to her. So, with one last lick, I finished nuzzling the gown up until it was like a bulky bra around her. I kissed the skin between her breasts and she arched for me again. Her hands gripped my head to her, nails scraping my scalp. I put my mouth over her nipple through the fabric, sucking it all into my mouth. The most seductive sigh slipped through her lips. I moved to her other breast and did the same thing with the same result.

When I went to pull the underwear off, she stopped me. "Leave it on," she said in a breathy voice. With a smile, she said, "It never hurts to experiment, right."

With a soft growl, I surged up to plant a gentle kiss on her lips. "I love you," I whispered against her lips.

"And I love you, my Alpha."

Rumbling with a purr, I gently reached down to push aside the slim cloth and positioned myself at her entrance. As I started to push in slowly, I rested my weight on my elbows and met her eyes. Her hands smoothed up my arms, and her mouth opened as I sank inch by inch into her so slowly that we both could feel everything. She was wet but tight, and her body fisted mine, pulling me in deeper.

"I don't think I tell you enough that you're so beautiful."

She smiled. "But I know you think it."

I shook my head a little. "I should say it more. Everything about you is beautiful. Your smooth skin. Curly, copper hair. Chocolate brown eyes. Your smile. That special smile that you give to only me. I love that smile. I love that it's mine."

And there it was. That smile shined up at me as I reached the end of her. For a moment, we both just paused to study each other. She stroked my face and then her thumbs traced my cheekbones. She leaned up to kiss me.

"Move for me, Jacob. Make love to me slowly."

And I did. I started with slow, dragging strokes so that all of me felt all of her, and our lower stomachs slid over each other. Sweat had started to pool between us from our bodies being pressed to each other and my body heat. The thong added an extra rubbing sensation as I moved in and out.

A low purr had started in her chest as she held me to her. I buried my face in her neck and started to thrust faster, making us rock back and forth. I wanted to go deeper but I needed a different angle. Sliding my hand down her side, I went for her thigh and hitched her leg up over my hip as I did a one-arm push-up over her. There. That was it. I sank in deeper and she groaned, pushing her other leg up over my thigh so that her heel hooked around.

My hips, without my permission, started swinging up and back on their own. Over the past month or so, We'd done fast and hard, which meant I hadn't really gone as deep as I could have. It was all a means to an explosive end, of mixing ourselves together. But tonight? Tonight was all about the connection and being as close as we could. Tonight, I hit the end of her over and over, which made her move on the bed.

With an erotic groan, she reached up to grip the headboard as my hips hammered into hers. Though her feet were locked onto my thighs, her legs were spread as far out as they could go from her hips. Her body took mine in all the way to the base of me. We had never done that before.

She called out my name in different sighs, moans, and groans. Every single one of them made my erection jerk inside of her which made her moan again.

Since we'd started making love, I'd come to the realization that I'd know when she was about to orgasm. But not tonight. The only warning I got was the squeal of the headboard as her arms tensed and the tightening of her legs around my waist. The scream of my name helped, too.

"Jacob!" she shouted as her body convulsed, squeezing down on mine like a vise.

Her body clamping down on mine brought on my own orgasm from out of nowhere. Immediately, it was as if my body was determined to keep up with hers because this was going to be the only release tonight. One shot. My stomach clenched up hard and my lower back screamed as I threw another thrust into her, a thrust that was damn near painful because her body was trying to keep me inside her to milk me for all I was worth.

"Nessie," I whispered as everything in me spasmed, releasing into her.

She let go of the headboard to wrap her arms around my neck. I sank back down onto my elbows as our bodies did their thing.

I knew Nessie was done when her body went from rigid tightness to loose as a wet noodle. Her legs dropped from around me, but she managed to keep her arms locked around my neck. With my body finished emptying itself, I settled my weight on top of her, remembering her telling me that she liked the weight of me.

I buried my face into her neck and hair again. Her nails gently slid through my hair and over my scalp. Happy tired. That was exactly what I was.

"Mmm," she mumbled, her chest vibrating with the sound. "Slow. I like slow."

That made me laugh. Slowly, I pulled out of her. The sensitivity of both of us was astronomical. She involuntarily convulsed with the feeling as I hissed.

"Where are you going?" she asked sleepily.

"I need to clean you up," I answered as I wobbled off the bed. I was really not in any condition to walk, but I couldn't let her sleep in wet panties and wet thighs.

I made quick work of the clean up with a damp cloth. She was loose and on the verge of sleep as I undressed her all the way, throwing the silk and cotton over in the corner with the washcloth.

As I scooted in behind her, she frowned. "You've been doing all the work in bed lately."

I laughed softly and moved her hair back so that I could kiss her bare shoulder, neck, and back. "Don't worry. I don't mind. I love knowing I can satisfy you."

That grin of hers came again. "Oh you do. But I need to take care of you, too."

I kissed her behind the ear and wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her back against me. "Stop thinking, Nessie. You'll come up with something, but tonight, just enjoy the afterglow."

She cuddled back into me. "Mmmm, ok. Love you."

"Love you, too, sweetheart."

* * *

**So? What did ya think? Am I going too fast with Embry and Tricia, or do you think it's going right? I feel it's right. Now, Walker and Christa are an entirely different story. Those two...*shakes head*...like Jake said, Really? So please Review! I LOVE reviews. They make me happy when I'm grumpy. Love my fans! xoxoxoxo**


	30. Chapter 30

**Woo-hoo! Chapter 29! I missed you guys! I got a new computer because my other one died and I am still getting used to it so forgive me. I don't have Word anymore 'cause I used up all my uploads so I'm using an unfamiliar program :( so please bear with me. It doesn't have the auto-correct that I'm used to.**

**Now, for this chapter. I love it. It's one of my favorites. In a very very early version of my version of Jake and Nessie before Caden even came along, bits of this chapter had been in that original. So I really wanted it here, and I was so excited to write it. It's just all kinds of sweet. And funny. Caden and Christa crack me up. Hope you like it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Oh, and we are almost done with this story. Only a few more chapters! Sooooo buckle your seat belts, guys. The third story is on its way. AND I am already working on a sequel series that's about the KIDS! Totally excited about that. Now, enough of my ramblings. You don't read these anyway ;)**

***Disclaimer***

**Please Enjoy! And Happy Birthday to one of my reviewers! You're great!**

* * *

**JPOV**

Again, my phone ringing woke me up. I didn't even open my eyes as I rolled over. Wait...something was missing. Just as my brain was clicking, the sound of my phone became shrill as it got closer to me.

The bed wiggled a little, and then I heard, "Hello?" in a soft voice. "Yeah, he's fine, just asleep. What's up?...Now?...Ok, I'll get him up, and we'll get down there."

"What's wrong," I mumbled.

The phone beeped and the bed wiggled again. A moment later, Nessie draped herself across my chest. She was still naked. Instinctively, I wrapped an arm around her and pulled her on top of me even though I was covered by a sheet.

She giggled. "Good morning to you, too."

"Mmm, how 'bout a replay of last night?"

Again with the giggle. "We don't have time. That was Paul. He said we need to get down to the big house. Something's up. He was vague about what though. He sounded excited."

That made me open my eyes. Paul was never excited about anything unless it had to do with my sister.

Nessie had apparently been up for a while. Her hair was damp, freshly washed. And now that I was paying attention, the scent of mint and honey floated around her.

I frowned as I slid my hand up and down her smooth back. "You're never up before me."

She smiled down at me and drew a finger between my eyes. "There's a first time for everything, Jake. Besides, for some reason, I was hot. We must have kept the comforter on last night, I guess. Usually it's just the sheet because of your body heat."

It was a perfectly ordinary reason, but it didn't feel right. With my new wolfy sense, I sniffed at her. No medicines or anything. I didn't smell that acrid scent of a lie. All that was there was chocolate, honey, and mint. Her love and just that scent that was her.

This time her laugh was full throated. "Don't look so suspicious. I just woke up early. Nothing to get all suspicious about."

I shook my head. "Alright, alright. Let's get up. What time is it anyway?"

"Noon," she answered as she crawled over me. My side of the bed was on the side of the room with the closet.

I groaned as I got out of bed and stretched. I jumped when I felt her slap my ass. Turning around in shock, I saw her dart into the closet, laughing. She closed and locked the door. I hadn't even known that door had a lock. She was feeling awfully playful, and it had started last night. I wasn't complaining mainly because lately, she'd been worried and stressed out because of everything going on. I loved the less serious side of her. She always knew how to make people feel loved and light.

Shaking my head, I went for the bathroom for necessities and a quick shower. When I was done, I came back into the room rubbing my hair with the towel to find that she'd laid my clothes out for me. Jeans and a black tank. Surprise, surprise.

I dressed quickly and met her upstairs. She was wearing skin tight hiphuggers and a dark green long sleeve T. She'd put the top half of her hair in a clip. She was waiting for me at the door. Derek and Adam were standing in the open door waiting for us.

Twenty minutes later, we were walking up to the kitchen door of the Cullen house with Nessie tucked into my side. It was colder than it had been yesterday. If it kept getting colder, that storm may not happen.

We were at the door when I looked up. Something had grabbed my attention. Edward was on the second floor, and he was shaking his head. It took me a moment to realize he was answering my thought. The storm was still coming. He nodded.

Sighing, I went inside. According to Alice, that storm would come in less than a week. She was guessing about Saturday or Sunday. Fabulous.

Rachel and Paul were in the kitchen, but something was up. They were throwing little glances at each other and failing not to smile in that way that told people they were trying to hide something.

"Hey, Jacob, Nessie," Rach said.

I gave her a raised eyebrow while Nessie said, "Hey. Nice to see you two. What's up?"

I left her to visit with them, and went for the living room. I needed to talk to Edward about the whole weather/attack thing that was supposedly happening soon. I didn't get further than the kitchen door. the person on the couch stopped me in my tracks. I was pretty sure I stopped breathing, too.

She was an exact copy of my sister who was sitting in the kitchen. I looked back over my shoulder to make sure Rachel was still sitting at the table between Paul and Nessie. When I had that confirmation, I looked back to the couch.

My sister, Rebecca, was sitting there. She'd been flipping through a magazine. Now, she sat there smiling at me, the magazine forgotten on the coffee table.

"Hey, Jake," she said tentatively as she slowly stood up.

"Jake?" Nessie said behind me. When I didn't answer, I heard the chair scrape on the floor as she stood up to come to me. "Hey, you al-oh," she gasped as she got a look at Rachel's twin. I felt more than saw her look back at Rachel just as I had.

"What are you doing here?" I blurted. "I thought you were in Hawaii."

She shrugged. "I was. And it's nice to see you, too, baby brother." Her eyes swept me from head to toe. "Man, dad wasn't kidding. You got huge."

"Dad?" I was still in total shock. I hadn't seen my sister is over ten years.

She nodded, tucking her short hair behind her ear. "Yeah, he sends me pictures all the time." She stepped closer. "So, can I get a hug? I haven't seen you in a long time."

In reflex, I opened my arms to her. She stepped in and pressed in close to me. Finally, I shook out of my shock and hugged her hard. And, as pansy as it sounded, I tried really hard not to cry. I felt a small hand rub circles on my back. Nessie. Somehow she knew how this was affecting me.

"I missed you so much, Jake," Becca whispered against my chest. A second later, she pulled back and rubbed her thumbs under her eyes. Then, her eyes shifted to over my shoulder. "You going to introduce us?" she asked me.

Clearing my throat, I stepped back. "Uh, Nessie, this is my sister Rebecca. Becca this is my fiancee, Renesmee, but everyone calls her Nessie."

They smiled and reached for each other at the same time.

"It's so nice to meet you, Nessie. Dad tells me a lot about you when I'm able to call. He says you help Jake out a lot."

Nessie looked surprised. "I do what I can when he lets me."

Becca smiled as they pulled apart. "Oh, I know what you mean. As the only boy, he was a terror when we were little."

"Amen," Rachel said from the kitchen. The girls erupted into giggles.

"Hey!" I said. "No ganging up on me. That's not fair. Now, Becca, what are you doing here?"

She choked back some more giggles and said, "I got a wedding invite from an Alice Cullen, your future aunt-in-law." Her face sobered a little, but she kept a soft smile. "And dad told me about the pack, Jake. I know you're the Alpha. That's another reason I came back."

I frowned. "I don't understand. Did you phase?"

She shook her head just as I heard a car pull up outside. She smiled and sighed. "Just in time." Doors opened and closed. At least two heartbeats and a pattering sound on the porch . "Thomas and I are moving back. Charlie helped out finding a house in Forks."

I just blinked at her. Not only was she here for my wedding but she was moving back?

There was a knock on the door and Becca looked at Nessie, who nodded, and then said, "Come on in. Door's open."

The next thing I knew, the sound of little feet was in the house. And a high pitched voice came with it.

"Momma, momma!"

Shock. I was definitely in shock again as Becca scooped up a black-haired, tan-skinned little boy. He was about five or six years old. Old enough to talk. A man I had never met came down the hallway with a sippy-cup and diaper bag that probably just held toys now.

"Becca...?" I asked.

Her shoulders rose with a deep breath before she turned around. "Jacob, I want you to meet your nephew, Henry." She looked at the boy who was staring at me. "Henry, can you say hi to your Uncle Jacob?"

At first he looked scared and like he was going to bury his face into Becca's neck. Instead, he studied me. After a moment, his little face broke out into a huge grin as he reached for me. "Unca Daycob!"

"He knows me?" I asked, stepping closer to them.

Becca grinned. "I asked dad to send me pictures with names. He knows everybody, including Nessie's family." She held Henry out to me. "Here, he wants you to hold him, Jake. He's been dying to meet you."

"Unca Daycob, Unca Daycob!"

Little arms reached out for me, fingers opening and closing. As I took him into my arms, I felt Rachel come up behind me. She stared from Henry to me to Rachel with tears in her eyes. I just stared at Henry, my nephew, and felt awe and a little wave of anger.

I wanted to demand why she didn't tell us that she was pregnant to begin with. A five year old nephew? But I didn't. This was supposed to be a happy moment, and I could see the tension in her shoulders. She knew that Rach and I were going to have a word with her later. Right now, I just needed to concentrate on the little boy in my arms.

"He's beautiful, Becca," Rachel said as Henry wrapped his arms around my neck as much as he could and planted a sloppy kiss on my cheek.

Becca grinned. But her husband smiled and answered with, "Thanks. He's got good genes from his momma."

I frowned as Henry reached for Rachel before pausing. My sisters weren't identical but it was close enough that he was confused. His little head turned back and forth a couple times before he looked back at Rachel and grinned.

He reached out again with, "Ray, Ray!"

Becca laughed as I handed him over. "He still can't quite get your name, Rach."

"Rebecca," I said when the lightbulb in my head flickered to life. When she looked at me, I gave her a look. "Good genes? That's why you came back, isn't it? Were you scared he'd phase and not have help or something?"

Her husband, Tom, stepped forward to wrap an arm around her. "Not at all." He squeezed her and shared a look with her. "It was about time to relocate anyway, and she'd been wanting to come back."

"But the werewolf gene in him wouldn't get triggered unless there were...enemies around. I'm pretty sure he was protected from that in Hawaii."

Tom shook his head again. "It's not that we didn't want the gene triggered, though. It's a part of his heritage. And Becca told me that she has it on both sides. She also said that out of the three of you siblings, you were the only one to phase."

I just stared at him. "You want him to phase?"

Tom shrugged. "It won't happen 'til he's older, right? If it happens at all?"

Thinking about it, I stared at my nephew in Rachel's arms. "I guess so. All of us phased either in our late teens or early twenties."

Nessie had come up behind me, and Henry saw her. Grinning, he reached for her. She took him into her arms, and he buried himself in her hair. Not two seconds later, I heard another car pull up.

Becca smiled radiantly. "That must be dad and Uncle Charlie."

We waited as car doors opened and closed. Henry cooed and giggled at Nessie as she danced around with him and made goofy faces. She was so great with kids, a natural, and I couldn't help but stare at her. Even with kids that weren't hers, she glowed. God, I wanted that so bad. But first, we had to survive all this shit from Tristan and the Volturi. Because make no mistake, Jane was going to die one way or another. And so was Tristan. He'd caused enough trouble in my territory, and I'd be damned if Nessie got pregnant now with him running amok. Although, since we couldn't use condoms, she could very well be pregnant now or soon if we didn't slow it down. Baby or no baby, however, I was going to marry her in October. It was the end of August. We barely had a month, but according to Alice, the storm would hit in less than a week. And now, my long-lost sister shows up with her toddler? They were going to stay down in the rez with Rachel and Paul, or someone, until this whole mess passed. I wasn't about to let them stay in Forks. The rez was better protected. Becca would probably fight, but I wasn't giving them a choice. Tom would understand the need to protect family. He was a man. No matter how progressive the world became, some men just had the instinct to protect what was theirs. I was betting he was one of them since he cared enough about my sister to move to dreary Forks from warm Hawaii for their son and her need to come back home.

The door opened a while I was still lost in thought and we all heard, "Hey, hey! Where's my baby girl?"

Becca went to meet him at the hallway. "Hey, dad!" She stooped down and wrapped her arms around him. "Ooo, I missed you so much!" And then she was off to Charlie. Sue was next. I hadn't even seen her walk through the door.

As Tom was introduced, Nessie stepped up beside me with Henry in her arms. He was peeking out from locks of her hair. Billy froze mid-smile at whatever Charlie was saying. When Billy didn't answer him, Charlie turned and froze as well as he got a good look at his granddaughter and the child in her arms.

Rebecca hadn't told Billy that she had a son? Rachel and me, I could understand. But our dad? He hadn't known all this time that he had a grandson.

Now, Becca looked nervous. She cleared her throat. "Dad-."

"You had a baby?" he whispered.

She wouldn't meet his eyes. "I'm so sorry, daddy."

Tom cleared his throat. "Nessie, I think I'm going to get him some food together. Would you mind helping me out?"

Nessie looked startled for a second before she shook her head and smiled. "Of course. Come on. The kitchen's just behind me."

When the three of them disappeared, we all stared at Becca. She'd started crying silently. Though I knew Rachel was angry with her, too, she moved around me so that she could hug her twin. I think we were all more disappointed than angry, though. I knew I was.

"Becca," I said. Billy looked too shocked to say anything. She wouldn't look at me, just the floor. "Becca, why didn't you tell us? You talk to dad. Why didn't you tell him?"

She burst into sobs. "I'm sorry. I just thought if you knew that you'd want to make me come up here, and we just didn't have the money. And I know that's not an excuse. I just-I just...I could have told you and sent pictures, but...but, I was so homesick for you and and everybody else that I barely had the strength to talk to dad let alone tell you that I had a baby. I am so, so sorry."

Billy, Rachel, and I all shared a look. And then Billy and I converged into a group hug as much as we could since Billy was in a wheelchair.

"Becca, baby," Billy said. "We're not angry. We're upset, true, but not angry. We can't lose another of this family. Jacob and Rachel will need you when I go to join your mother. I want my kids to know each other and be close. But I think I speak for all of us when I say that we're ecstatic that he knows us. That was a brilliant idea on your part. Ok, sweetie? We love you."

And just like that, all my anger and disappointment were gone. Because Billy was right. Though she hadn't told us there was a new addition to the family, she had taught him about us. He knew us, recognized us.

"How did you afford to come back up here?" I asked as gently as I could. I was curious, but not in accusatory way.

Before Becca could answer, Tom came back in the room. "As soon as Charlie called to tell us he'd found a place cheap to rent, we sold our house and flew straight here. We sold the house yesterday before we left."

Becca looked up at me with a tear-stained face. "I want my son to know his roots, who he is, and who he could be. Neither me nor Tom had any family down there. Henry only had pictures to learn his relatives. That's not fair to him. Here? I get to spend time with you, Rach, and dad. And Tom has family in northern California. And Henry has his aunts and uncles."

As Tom went around to pull his wife into his arms, I felt a small hand pat my arm. Looking over, I found Henry grinning up at me and reaching for me to hold him. Nessie grinned as I took him.

"Welcome home, little guy," I said.

He giggled.

**RPOV**

Henry was the most adorable thing in the world. When we'd all sat down for lunch, he spent most of his time in his uncle's lap, giving Jake wet kisses and gurgly giggles. Jacob probably didn't realize it, but he was a natural. Henry loved him, and I knew that Jacob was already wrapped around his finger. If Jacob was this great with two kids that weren't his, then I really couldn't wait to see him when we had our own.

It was a few hours later that we were still sitting around the table talking when a rush of movement entered the house. Rachel had said that my family had gone hunting when my Aunt Alice had seen visitors coming into the house. Apparently, they were back, and I saw Rebecca tighten her grip on her son where he was snoozing in her arms. She was sitting between Jacob and Tom. Jacob leaned over to whisper something to her as he stroked her back. If I'd wanted to, I could have probably heard what he'd said, but he'd whispered it for a reason. Becca took in a deep breath and nodded.

Smiling, she handed off Henry to Tom, stood up, and excused herself. I gave Jacob a questioning glance.

He leaned over to whisper to me, "I think she might need someone to talk to. Would you mind?"

I shook my head.

"Thanks. And could you get her to agree to stay on the rez? Please? At least until this mess is over. The rez is safest for them right now."

I nodded again, gave him a kiss, and excused myself. Jacob was right. She probably needed someone to talk to who wasn't as close to the situation as her sister, brother, and dad. I was kind of perfect because I knew the situation, but didn't have a feeling one way or another.

She'd gone for the front door. My guess was that she was sitting on the porch. I was right. She was sitting on the steps.

When the door closed with a click behind me, she gave out a bitter laugh. "I knew one of you would be out here to give me hell. Which one is it? Rach or Jacob?"

I cleared my throat. "Um, neither, actually."

She whipped around, looking startled. "Oh, Nessie, hi."

I smiled. "Sorry. Didn't mean to startle you. You mind if I join you?"

She shrugged and turned back around. "If you want to. If you can stand to. You must be angry with me out of principle because of Jake."

I sat down on the top step with her, rested my elbows on my knees and clasped my hands together. "Actually, Jacob doesn't do my thinking for me. I have my own opinions. And I am not angry with you." When glanced at me, I shrugged. "Whether we're human or not, we all make mistakes, and we all do what we think is right. That's what you did."

"I was so stupid to hide Henry away like that." She took a deep breath. "I don't know if Jacob talks to you about me. Probably not since I hurt them so bad. But I left as soon as I could, Nessie. I couldn't bear to stay in the same vicinity of where our mother died. Everything reminded me of her. And we all grew up with the legends of our people. Dad always believed the wolves would return, that the gene would kick in again when the enemies returned. But really, werewolves and vampires? I just couldn't handle it. I wasn't proud of where I'd come from."

"What changed?" I asked softly.

"Henry," she said immediately. "And, of course, dad telling me about Jake and the pack. But mostly Henry. If I kept him away from here, he'd never know anything about himself, let alone me. The moment he was born and I first held him in my arms, I knew I had to face my pain and come back. For five years, Tom and I saved up as much money as we could. I finally called dad, and asked for pictures when Henry started recognizing people. I told dad I was making a photo album and needed updated pictures. Even then, I should have told him. I should have asked for Rachel's and Jake's numbers to talk to them. I just missed them more than anything. It was hard enough just talking to dad. I wish I could go back, though, and tell them. They wouldn't be angry with me."

I nudged her with my shoulder and gave her a gentle smile. "They aren't angry, Rebecca. Like Billy said, they're upset. But honestly, they'll get over it. You got some serious brownie points for making sure your son knew his aunt, uncle, and grandfather. And another thing is, we're all having issues wrapping our minds around this because we have some serious stuff going on, some dangerous stuff. So, at the same time, Jacob is worrying about the safety of his family, and the nephew he just met and fell in love with."

Her eyes filled with worry. "Dangerous? How dangerous?"

"Life or death." I said it clear, without hesitation, and the most serious eye contact I could muster.

She watched me as if she were waiting for me to tell her I was kidding. I wish I was. "So what are you saying?" she asked.

I took a deep breath. "Jake and I want you, Tom, and Henry to stay on the rez."

"What? Why?"

"Forks isn't safe right now, but the rez is. No scents of our enemies have been found there for a while now. Forks is compromised. People have been attacked and killed. Jacob doesn't want you there. And frankly, I agree with him."

"But he can't tell us what to do. Tom wouldn't understand anyway."

Moving around, I faced her and took her hands in mine. "Listen to me, Rebecca. Henry isn't safe in Forks. Especially if it comes out that he's Jacob's nephew."

"Jacob specifically is in danger?"

I nodded. "And me. Both of us are the priority of our enemies. You have to listen to us. Jacob is a good alpha. He knows what he's doing, and I one-hundred percent back him up. The pack and the entire rez treat him as their chief, ok? Please. Just let us get this problem over with before you move into that house."

"Nessie's right."

I whirled to find my parents standing at the door. Mom stepped forward with a smile. "Rebecca, you know that we're different. I know Billy talked to you. Edward and I would be happy to buy the house and keep it up for you so that it's ready for you to move in when the time comes."

I grinned. What is it with you two and houses? I thought.

Dad grinned at me.

Rachel shook her head. "God, no. We couldn't ask you to do that."

"You didn't. We're offering," Dad said. "And you're going to accept it. Jacob is our son-in-law which makes you family."

"But you know nothing about us."

Dad smiled again. "I know more than you think."

Becca looked at me with raised eyebrows.

I shrugged. "He can read minds."

She blinked. "Excuse me?"

I nodded. "Our kind sometimes has abilities. All the Cullens have an ability of some sort. Dad can read minds. Mom can block other mental abilities. She's known as a shield. I can project my thoughts and memories. Aunt Alice can kind of predict the future. Things like that."

She swallowed hard, but nodded. "I guess dad wasn't lying."

I shook my head. "Probably not. He knows everything about us since I'm engaged to his son. He may have omitted some stuff, but he probably didn't make anything up."

She gave a short laugh. "Sounds like dad."

I looked up to my own dad but he was gone. I snorted. "Looks like you're taking that offer."

"What? No, I-," she stuttered and looked back, too, with a sigh.

"Sorry. My dad doesn't give people choices sometimes. He thinks too many people are too nice for their own good."

She sighed again.

"So, Tom doesn't know about this?"

"He knows about the wolves. I told him the legend and then I told him about Jake. Dad sent me a picture of you and Jake when he was in wolf form."

Laughter bubbled up my throat. "How did Tom take it?"

Her own laughter joined mine. "He freaked out at first. But once I told him that it was a very real possibility for our baby to inherit that gene, he knew I was telling the truth. Neither one of us would do anything to hurt Henry. It was actually Tom who got the ball rolling on us moving here. He's determined for Henry to have a full life that isn't boring." She laughed again, but at something she was remembering. "All throughout my pregnancy, he was so worried that we'd be boring parents, that we'd be those parents that embarrass their kid without even trying." Turning toward me, she studied me. "So you and my baby brother, huh?"

I laughed. "Yeah, me and Jacob."

"You planning on kids? You'd make great parents."

I played with the ring on my finger. "Yeah, we want kids. But not until we're all safe and we can raise them in a loving, non-chaotic environment. We're both worried about what would happen if I got pregnant now."

She gave me a look. "No protection?"

To my credit, I didn't blush. I just shook my head. "Birth control won't work on me. I'm only half human. And, trust me, we tried. A few years ago to see how my body reacted to certain medicines. My body rejected it. I kept throwing up everywhere. And Jacob can't use a condom. His body heat from being a wolf and the friction would melt it."

"And you can't abstain until it's all done?" She was giving me that adult look that said, yes, you can control the craving.

I shook my head and tried to put it into words. "If we hadn't already made love to begin with, sure, we'd be able to. But with us being the alpha couple, there's something more primal about that connection. It's more than a craving. There are some days or nights where afterward, we're laying there and trying to figure out how we got there in the first place."

She nodded. "I think I know what you mean. After that first time with Tom, it was an...insatiable need. Even though I don't phase, I still have that blood running through me. I'd never felt anything like that with any of my other lovers. Don't tell anyone, but that's kind of how I knew Tom was the one. At first, every time I touched him or he touched me, just the barest of fingertips on my cheek, I was this needy animal. It was quite intense."

"Insatiable and intense," I nodded. "Good words. Perfect words." I turned to her again. "So you're going to stay on the rez, right?"

Taking a deep breath through her nose, she blew it out of her mouth loudly. "Yeah. I'll talk to Tom."

"Good. We just want you safe."

"I know. And thank you."

The door opened again. We turned to find Tom. "Hey, ladies. Esme says dinner's ready."

I smiled. Rebecca said, "Thanks, babe."

He was about to go back in when he popped his head back out. "Oh, and Henry is looking for momma and aunt Ren," he said with a smile.

Becca and I laughed as we both stood up. I wrapped my arm through her elbow and she rested her head on my shoulder as we went in for dinner.

Mustn't disappoint my new nephew.

**ChristaPOV**

Fuming, I marched down to Leah and Caden's place. Walker was spending the day with his sister instead of going with me to talk to Caden about what or who we found at the store yesterday. I really wanted just one more good punch.

Morgan was beside me trying hard not to smile. "I thought you told him about imprinting."

"I did."

"Then why isn't he trying to get to know you?"

I sighed and growled at the same time. "Look, I didn't tell him that I imprinted on him, ok? I just explained what it was and told him that Embry had imprinted on Tricia."

"You did what?" She stopped walking but I didn't. She had to jog to catch up to me. "Why didn't you tell him?"

"I was hoping that he would make the connection if I told him about it and the fact that I was hanging around him more. But no. Apparently the part of his brain that performs math to put two and two together is broken. Or he's ignoring it. Or he's just really that stupid."

"Guess which one I'm going for?" she said.

"Exactly," I said sarcastically. I only muttered, "Asshole."

Morgan laughed. It was a sincere laugh, one that, before we'd started talking again, I hadn't heard in years. Lucas was on her other side, quietly smiling and holding her hand. He didn't say a word. Smart man, or I would have hit him.

Morgan was still laughing as I knocked on the front door. Caden was the one to open it about five minutes later. His hair was sticking up everywhere and he was dressed in nothing but a pair of jeans that were zipped but not buttoned. There red welts on the skin of his shoulders, chest, and arms.

Irritated again, I pushed past him into the house with a growl. "Is everyone around here having sex? Jesus."

Caden didn't even say anything. He just crossed his arms over his chest and gave raised eyebrows to Morgan.

She tried her best not to grin, and failed. "Dry spells make anyone cranky."

Lucas pressed his lips into a tight line as Leah came into the room in a dark green robe.

"What is going on?" she asked.

Caden shrugged and pulled her into his side. "Didn't get a chance to ask, love." He looked over to me. "Any reason you're interrupting my wet spell?"

I rolled my eyes and gagged while Leah slapped him on the chest and choked. "Caden!"

"What? It's true."

Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I pulled up the pictures from the grocery store, picked out a clear one and tossed him the phone. He caught it easily and stared at it. At first his brows pulled down low, but as he flipped through the other pictures, he became more emotional. Swallowing hard and breathing rapidly, he handed me the phone back.

"You know him, don't you?" Morgan asked, folding her arms under her breasts. All the joking was gone from her face.

Caden nodded. "It's Ethan." His voice was choked. He cleared his throat. "We need to talk to Jacob."

Ten minutes later, we were at the Cullen house. There was a crowd inside. I could feel the energy. And there were several scents mixed together. Morgan, Lucas, and I had been practicing what Caden had taught us.

We went inside to find everybody in the kitchen. There were three new people that I'd never seen before, one of them a child no more than four or five years old. The man didn't look familiar but the woman did. She looked like Rachel.

"Rebecca?" Leah said in surprise from our little group.

The woman transferred the boy to Jacob's arms and rushed forward with a large smile and arms opened wide.

"Leah!" she said as she wrapped her arms around the other woman. "Oh my god, I have missed you so much! How are you?" The woman, Rebecca, stepped back and held Leah and arms' length. "Wow, you look amazing."

Leah smiled, bright and happy, which was rare. "Thank you. You look great, too. But what are doing here?"

"Tom and I decided to move back. For our son."

Leah's eyes went to the little boy. "That's...that's your son?"

Rebecca nodded. "His name is Henry."

At the sound of his name, the boy looked up. When his eyes went to Leah, he frowned. If I didn't know any better, I'd have said he was trying to remember something. After a moment, he suddenly grinned. "Le-le!"

Rebecca laughed. "I've said this a thousand times, but he knows everybody. I taught him from pictures."

Leah looked close to tears as she waved at Henry, who waved a chubby hand in return.

"So," Rebecca said in an excitedly expectant voice.

"So what?"

She motioned to Caden who was now fully dressed with a shirt and buttoned pants. Hallelujah. "Who is this?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm so used to everyone knowing who he is. Rebecca, this is Caden, my imprint. Caden, this is Rebecca, my childhood friend, and Jacob and Rachel's sister."

Smiling like nothing was wrong, he took Rebecca's hand and kissed the back of it. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Rebecca. Leah has actually talked about you a lot."

Rebecca shot Leah a "hubba hubba" look. It was probably the accent. And the fact that Caden was stunningly gorgeous. Leah grinned and blushed.

"What are you doing here, Caden?" Jacob said from the table. He was bouncing his legs under the table, making the little boy jiggle around in his lap. "It's your and Leah's day off. Normally you're holed up at your house."

Caden grinned. "This is true. However, this," he pointed at me, "firecracker dragged me out of my day off. She and Walker found something yesterday."

"What was it?"

Caden's eyes flicked around the room. "I'm not sure business should be discussed here."

"Oh, right." Jacob handed Henry over to the man, Tom, and got up.

"Wait," Rebecca said. "I am a Black. If Rachel can sit in on this stuff, then so can I."

Caden and Jacob shared a look. Tom cleared his throat.

"I'll just take Henry to watch cartoons so you guys can talk."

"Honey,-" Rebecca started.

Tom came to kiss her. "It's ok. You take care of family stuff. You can tell me later if you feel up to it." And then he was gone. A moment later, the TV turned on. A second after that, cartoons played in the background.

Jacob crossed his arms over his chest. "What's up?"

Caden held his hand out to me. It took me a second to realize he wanted the phone. I dug it out again, flipped through the pictures, and gave it to him. He tossed it to Jake. I rolled my eyes. Men.

Jacob frowned and flipped through the pictures. "Who am I looking at?"

Caden smiled. "That's Ethan."

"Ooooook?"

"He's a very good friend of mine and part of Tristan's pack. He was a loner like me. I taught him the ropes. It makes sense that Tristan would send him into the town to interact. Ethan is the only one who's still in touch with his humanity, besides me of course."

"He was super nice," I added.

"You talked to him?" Caden asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, we got close to him and everything. He had to scent Walker. I couldn't have cancelled out his scent that well."

"Ok? And what does that mean for us?" Jacob demanded.

Caden leaned forward, planting his hands on the table and leaning into them. "It means, Jacob, that if I can get into contact with him, he may be our way into Tristan's pack, our foot in the door for information. Ethan and I were so close that I feared Tristan would kill him because of my betrayal."

Jacob thought this over. "What if it's a trap though? If you were that tight, maybe Tristan is using him as a lure, hoping you'll try to get in contact."

Caden shook his head. "There are two things that Tristan could have done. One, he could have told the pack that I betrayed them, making me a traitor. Or two, he could have told them that I was dead. I'm betting on the second."

"Why?"

"If they thought I was alive and going against Tristan, it would give them the opportunity to leave that pack to seek me out. They have to know that something is really wrong with him by now. Trying to set up a kingdom here is damn near suicidal. The other packs would come after him for trying to out us to the world. If the rest of his pack knows his plan, then they'll be looking for a way out even if they are as psychotic as he is. If they knew that I was alive, then they'd come to me asking me to fight him for alpha."

Jacob took a deep breath and scrubbed his face.

"I thought they were a pack of dominants?" I asked. "Why couldn't the others challenge him?"

Caden turned to me. "That's a good question. The answer is that there are different levels of power. All of them are dominant but at different levels. None of them come close to Tristan, except me. We're about equal. That's why I was second in command."

"So, let's say he told them that you were dead," Jacob said. "What are we supposed to do with that?"

Caden grinned. "That would mean that Tristan lied to them. One of the rules of a pack of our kind is that none of us lie to each other because we can always smell it, so there's really no use. Dominants hate to be lied to. That's an act of betrayal. And as far as they're concerned, I have never once lied to them."

Jacob's eyes narrowed as he asked the question we were all thinking. "And have you ever lied to them?"

Caden shook his head and the grin vanished. "No. Not once."

That imaginary light bulb on top of my head flickered to life. "So, you think they'll swing over to our side if Ethan tells them that he saw you alive?"

Caden nodded. "They'd be able to smell the lie on him otherwise."

"Hmmm, it has possibilities. How many times would he need to go grocery shopping?"

"At least twice or three times a week. It's Wednesday, so probably once more. Friday or Saturday."

Jacob nodded. "Ok. You'll be sitting out of patrol shifts. You'll work the town circuit in the shops."

Caden clapped his hands together. "Excellent."

"But remember, there is still a chance it could be a trap."

"A small one," Caden corrected.

Jacob glared at him. "But still a chance."

Caden just shrugged.

Jacob tossed me the phone. "Good job, Christa. This helps."

I couldn't help my grin of satisfaction. "Thank you. I went through hell trying to get those pictures."

Morgan snorted. "Yeah, she had to pretend to be Walker's girlfriend."

I shivered, but not from anything unpleasant. Just remembering being that close to him put a longing in my gut that I just wasn't ready for. It was like an undercut to the solar plexus: painful, butterflies made of barbed wire.

Caden made a face like he had a bad taste in his mouth. "That does sound unpleasant," he said.

It was a day for rolling eyes. Morgan and I both did and shook our heads in unison. Jacob looked back and forth between us.

"You two really are best friends, aren't you?"

"What gave it away?" Morgan asked sarcastically.

Jacob gave her a look, but ignored the comment. "Because Shelby and Nessie do the same shit all the time."

"Who's Shelby?" Rebecca asked.

"Seth's imprint," Morgan said.

I nodded. "She's Caden's type of wolf."

Rebecca's brows pulled down low in confusion. "I was meaning to ask that. There are two types of werewolf?"

We all nodded. Jacob and Caden quickly went through the whole explanation, including all the drama going down, and ended with the news that Shelby was pregnant. When they were done, Rebecca sank down into a chair.

"Wow." She looked over at Nessie. "You weren't kidding, were you? About the danger?"

Nessie shook her head. "I wish I was."

We were all silent as we lost ourselves in our thoughts. It was Caden who disrupted that quiet.

"Christa, I want you and Walker with me in the town." He shot a look over to Jacob. "If that's alright with you."

Jacob crossed his arms again. "Why do want them with you?"

"Even though it was little, they had interaction with Ethan. He'll probably need familiar faces after seeing me resurrected from the dead."

"That's if Tristan told them that you were dead."

Caden shrugged. "It's worth a shot. It's a win-win for me either way."

Jacob nodded. "Ok. If they're up to it, you can have Walker and Christa. We'll put someone else on Sam and Emily with Morgan and Lucas."

I grinned and clapped my hands. "I'm game."

Caden grinned at me.

**RPOV**

Later that night, once everything calmed down again, Caden, Leah, Christa, Morgan, and Walker all left. Seth and Shelby showed up, and introductions were made all over again. Shelby made an instant connection with Henry. Jacob and I took up a couch, and Becca and Tom took up the love seat. Henry was being passed around. He never wanted to stay with one person too long. There was no doubt in my mind that he was a social butterfly. He'd turn heads in high school, and would probably be one of those guys who are nice to everyone.

We spent the night watching Disney movies while Esme and Mom made cupcakes for everyone. Over the hours, the pack trickled in and out giving updates to Jacob and Seth from patrols. Some of them stuck around. Adam and Derek sat on either side of the couch on the floor. They'd run a couple hours of patrols for some of the other guys who needed family time.

At the moment, the movie of choice was Beauty and the Beast. We were at the part where Belle and the Beast first sit in front of the fire after their day playing in the snow and Chip is wondering what's going on while the others are talking cryptically.

Jacob leaned over to whisper in my hair, "We should name our first son Chip." I could hear the smile in his voice.

I laughed and playfully slapped his chest. Turning my head, I kissed his lips with the softest of caresses. "No. Our first son will be named William," I whispered back.

He grinned against my mouth. "Oh, really?"

"Mhm. After his grandfather on his father's side."

He kissed me back. "I think I can live with that."

"You think?"

"Absolutely." He kissed me again. "And his middle name will be Edward."

I pulled back a little to stare up at him.

He shrugged a little, still grinning. "It's only fair."

Opening my mouth to say something, a small voice beat me to it.

"Unca Daycob."

Pulling away from me, Jacob looked over to his nephew with eyebrows raised.

Henry raised a chubby finger to his lips. "Shhh, I'm twying to whath."

"Sorry, buddy," Jacob whispered.

With a grin, Henry stood up and walked over to us to try to climb up onto the couch between us. I scooted over as Jacob helped him up. He sat forward once he was between us and put one small hand on my thigh and the other on Jacob's. Jacob and I shared a look and smile as Jacob snaked his arm around the back of the couch to rest his hand on the nape of my neck under my hair.

Feeling watched, I looked over to see Rebecca barely containing a smile as she watched her son enjoying time with his family. Claire, who had come up with Quil earlier on for dinner, came into the living room from the kitchen with a cup of hot chocolate in her hands. Her tongue was between her teeth as she tried not to spill it before sitting down in front of me and leaning back against my legs. Reaching out, I combed my fingers through her hair. She set her mug down and leaned her head back against my knees. Leaning more forward, Henry tried to copy me by petting her head like he would a dog.

I looked over again to grin back at my soon-to-be sister-in-law. She winked at me, and then settled in against her husband who leaned in to kiss her hair.

Yeah, family time was as good as it got.

* * *

**See? Sweet, right? Soooo, please review? I love to know what you guys are thinking. It totally helps my groove. Until next time! xoxoxoxo**


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